The Demon of the North Wind
by xxLuna's Flower o.0xx
Summary: Primeval gods have long been forgotten by the shinobi world. And yet there was a girl with the mark of the Dragon engraved in her flesh, and a chilling coldness in her eyes. For the power to accomplish revenge, a child has sold her soul, and hardened her heart. But the desires of a woman will burn her resolve, the bonds of family will become the salvation that saves all.
1. Chapter 1

**So the story has changed but no by much. I was basically writing a story for a story that I couldn't think of a story for. And eventually I was just posting chapters for the sake of posting chapters. **

**I've gone back reread what I've posted and took the time to revise everything. And hopefully I set a cleared path to what the story is about. I hope that you all will continue to read the story. Like I've said before somethings are still the same but somethings have been added or changed. Please read and review, and tell me what you think.**

**P.S**

**I'm going to post the first two chapters back to back and then post on a bi-weekly basis. **

* * *

**Chapter one**

This was the end of Tetsuna's long winter journey. Her warmth and her consciousness was slipping away from her. The edges of her vision was turning dark and beyond the confinements of her body she could feel the gentle lulling of death ready to lead her soul fully to the spiritual plains.

Tetsuna was filled with such a warm feeling as the memories of her life filtered through her minds eye. It was beautiful. So beautiful that it brought tears to her eyes. With quick and shallow breaths she tried to explain that to them, to Itachi and to Sasuke. That she didn't regret anything she'd done. That she wasn't afraid. And that she loved them.

The last thing Tetsuna felt as her final breath pushed past her lips on a final sigh, was Itachi's hard grip on her hand. And a splash of something wet and warm on her cheek.

* * *

Sasuke felt the single tear roll from his eye, as the light faded from Tetsuna's pale blue eyes. He slumped backward, his body shagging against the ruined shard of a wall among the debris of what used to be an Akatsuki base. His blank dark eyes rolled toward the sky, avoiding taking in the destruction that he and Itachi had caused.

An icy sensation slithered across his skin, seeping down into his bones past that and into his soul. The feeling squeezed around his heart and bleed out what was left of him. The anger, the hatred, and the anguish was all pouring out , just like Tetsuna's blood pouring from the blade in her chest.

_His_ blade in her chest.

Sasuke felt empty and repulsed with himself. With Itachi. Was this the legacy of their clan? Was this all the Uchiha were capable of - to poison, corrupt, and eventually destroy what they had held close to their hearts. All that they had left was a darkness that they could not escape. That they had never been able to escape.

The tears came pouring in rivulets, and their salt stung the cuts on his cheeks . Sasuke grit his teeth and swallowed back a sob. Were was the sense of fulfillment that revenge was supposed to give him?Why did he feel so bitter?

He knew the answer to that didn't he.

Because Tetsuna had always been right about him and his brother. They were both fools. They always had been fools and had been played for the fools they were. Making assumptions and resolutions based off shaky pillars of beliefs that in hindsight didn't make any sense at all. Sasuke closed his eyes to escape his tears - to escape his reality.

Tetsuna's final image burned behind his lids.

Her white hair curled from beneath her skull, and her lips parted from her last breath. Her unseeing eyes peered up knowingly and her fingers were still curled from when she had feverishly held his hands in hers, as she babbled about this being beautiful, and how she had loved them, and how she had missed them so much. And how she wished she could see Naruto one more time before she had to go.

His eyes snapped open, and he took a sharp breath. Sasuke knew with the clarity some men boasted of having before death that he would no longer dream of his families bloody murders. The sounds of screams echoing in the night, and the smell of blood, and the feeling of helplessness would all fade in the wake of guilt, of a monochrome backdrop, and the fading blue eyes of a woman who probably loved him more than anyone else besides the man on the other side of her body, and the other man who he had come to love just as much as his actual brother.

His eyes rolled over to Itachi now, and if it wasn't for the rise and fall of his chest, Sasuke might have believed that he was dead too. For the first time in Sasuke's life he felt sorry for his brother. Itachi had loved Tetsuna in a way that made Sasuke and Naruto's love pale in had always been connected on a level that Sasuke couldn't and probably would never comprehend.

* * *

Death.

Itachi had seen it before. Had been the cause of it, had stood over it and watched it happen apathetically - unmoved. Yet...he had never experience death like this - he could not stomach it but he couldn't look away either.

So he stared at it until his eye burned and spots appeared in his vision. He felt so listless, lost, mentally exhausted. Not even the pain from breathing with his shattered ribs, or the cold dirt digging into his cheek, compared to the unexplainable pain rooting in his chest and spreading to the rest of his limbs.

The worst was the feeling of her fingers - colder than her usual low temperature - curling in his own hand . It seared his skin like a hot brand and he refused to let go. He was scared that if he let go now, than the reality that he would never be able to pull her to him might become true.

Her blank gaze peering into his face would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The truth of it sent a chill pricking down his spine. It made him want to sob, to release his grip on sanity, to give into hopelessness and follow her into death. At this moment the lucidity of his vision was a curse rather than the blessing it was meant to be. It mocked him now, as he traced the features of her dark face with his gaze.

A bitter seed was planted inside of him. He had lived through the guilt of killing his clans men, his reprieve that his brother would eventually deliver just punishment for his deed. But were was the reprieve from this? What would protect him from the memories of Tetsuna's touch, her scent, her warmth, her love.

He resented her. She had not even allowed him the escape of death. It was extremely ironic. Tetsuna had created the cruelest punishment imaginable in committing the most selfless act of human nature. She had let him watch his future fade before his very eyes, all his hope gone like the sigh of her last breath.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

Naruto stirred his bowl of ramen, oddly it didn't look all that appetizing to him. He furrowed his brows, and brought his chop sticks to his mouth, slurping up the beef flavored noodles. It tasted off, like he was chewing sandpaper. He pushed the bowl away from himself - with an unsettled feeling washing over him.

He had never not wanted a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen. Sakura placed her hand on his arm - her green eyes were swimming with an emotion that he could not register. Why was she looking at him with such a pained expression? Oddly enough, her touch and her concern didn't make his heart skip and beat or his stomach flutter. If anything it made him feel ..._uneasy_.

"I'm sorry Naruto. Please don't cry" Sakura whispered, as if afraid any higher octavie would break him. He blinked, and gingerly touched his cheek, surprised to find them wet. Why was he crying?

Sakura's free hand was tightly wrapped around the necklace she always wore. It was a single blue glass bead with swirling dark blue patterns, held together by a strip of leather around her neck. The piece of jewelry was similar to the simple leather bracelet he wore around his wrist, and he was sure that the others of the rookie nine and team Gai had taken the bead and made it into something of similar use.

Naruto reached for it now. To reassure himself of the uneasy feeling that Sakura was invoking in him. He could feel it already though, although his mind refused to register it.

_"So long as the bead is always abnormally cold, and you can feel the vibrations from my chakra through it you'll know that I'm alive and well." _

_Naruto squeezed the tiny blue bead tightly. He didn't want Tetsuna to go but at this point ...she was the only one who could stop Sasuke. Who could finallys set things right and how they were supposed to be. He brought his fist to his mouth and closed his eyes - she would return to him. _

_He opened his eyes a smiled his signature goofy grin, she'd return to him just fine. And he would finally convince her to wear that orange kimono he had gotten her for her birthday._

The bead, the bead wasn't cold. He squeezed it in his hands looking for that reassuring buzz - desperately searching for an even faint feeling of it. There was nothing. He felt something cold brush his cheek, and he thought he heard her voice soft and light as the breeze in his ear.

"_I'm sorry Naruto" _

At the same time the bead around his wrist shattered, and so did the one around Sakura's throat. He peered at it with wide eyes, mute with horror. For a moment his heart stopped in his chest, and then hot, and disgusting bile crawled up his throat. The stool fell from under him and he crashed to the ground. He was spewing out whatever was inside of his stomach, and when it was empty he heaved painfully.

Sakura was calling his name but she sound so far away. Darkness came. And his mind went blank.

* * *

Kakashi stood over Naruto's hospital bed. He still hadn't woken up. Most of rookie nine and team Gai was crowded around the room. All of them sharing the same or similar looks. Sakura was peering at Naruto, her eyes rimmed with read and puffed out. He sighed.

Tetsuna's bead had shattered before losing her chakra signature. He knew what it meant but it was hard to accept it. No one else had mentioned it in the room and Kakashi suspected that no one wanted to. To speak the truth into existence ... that would make the reason behind the shattered bead all all too real.

"How about you all come back later. I'll send word when he wakes up" Kakashi said. Most of them were reluctant to leave their friend but in the end he managed to usher them out. He peered over at Sakura at Naruto's bed side.

"You leave too Sakura-chan. You get some rest."

Sakura didn't move an inch. Kakashi placed his hand on her shoulder. Her big green eyes peered up into his face.

"Is..is Tetsuna really gone? I mean maybe the bead just finally broke or something ...right?"

Kakashi let out a long breath blinking slowly. Sakura sounded so desperate right now that he didn't think he could tell her and break her further. But he'd seen battles where Tetsuna had used those beads to block attacks that should have shattered them. The likelihood of them just breaking was ...slim. Sakura's lips thinned at his silence, and she brought her knees up to her chin and stubbornly turned to continue to watch Naruto.

Kakashi left her alone. The weight of everything finally getting to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**The past:**

Tetsuna walk down creaky wooden steps into the underground prison complex beneath the Hokage's manor. It led to a narrow hall lined with cells on one side and torches on the other. The torches illuminating the narrow hallway flickered as she breezed by cell after empty cell.

Tonight there was only one person imprisoned inside the old dungeon left by the very first Hokages, before the village had expanded and had built Konoha Strict Correctional Facility just outside the villages walls.

That's normally where they kept prisoners, the underground prison was mostly used to hold prisoners before transferring them. Or as interrogation rooms for the Torture and Interrogation Force.

For her now former instructor -Mizuki- these cells served as both.

Walking down the hall she could see the guard posted at the last cell, sitting in a wooden chair against the wall, with his eyes closed and his chest rising in easy rhythms. This wasn't her first time down here, and it wasn't the first time she had seen a guard sleeping on duty. She sneered at the shinobis lack of discipline, and peered beyond him into the very last cell facing her. She could see Mizuki slumped against the metal cot inside of his cell. His face was a complete mass of swollen, lumping flesh. Turning nasty shades of black and blue.

Mizuki noticed her as she approached on silent steps, and recognised her for who she was. The narrow slits of his swollen eyes bulged in an attempt to widen against his swollen lids, while the color drained from his face.

"Guard" he rasped, unable to properly speak. He reached through the bars as far as his arm would let him trying to shove the guard awake. Tetsuna quickened her steps, already slipping the blade holstered on her thigh into her hand and sliding it past the cloth of the cloak out into the open.

The shinobi stirred , he blinked blearily and glared at Mizuki, while Mizuki looked at her with a horrified expression.

"What do yourrgh..." the shinobi's began, but was cut off by her blade piercing through the back of his neck and out of his mouth. Tears of blood gathered in his eyes then rolled down the guards cheeks , and blood gushed past his mouth. The tip of Tetsuna's blade protruding past his lips disappeared like a lizard pulling it's tongue back into it's mouth as she jerked her blade out.

A spray of blood showered her, soaking into her cloak. Tetsuna slid her hood off her head, and peered at Mizuki with a cold but bland expression, wiping and smearing the blood that had got on her face across her dark skin with the back of her left hand, while she held her tanto blade in the other. Dots of red freckled the white fringe that swept across her forehead, and was caught in the loose strands that framed her face.

"There's no use calling for the guard. You killed him when you managed to escape" Tetsuna said matter of factly, licking her blood covered lips. She pushed the guard from his seat, and he slumped in front of Mizuki's cell, a pool of blood gathering beneath him and slowly spreading. " When they find you missing in the morning and this poor sod's body... well...let's just say you'll officially be branded as a traitor. And no shinonbi will hesitate to put you down."

Sitting down, she pointed her dripping blade at Mizuik splattering blood across his face in the process. He flinched, the shock in his expression finally gave way to terror as he looked directly at her. He whimpered and the seat of his pants grew dark while he trembled.

Tetsuna scrunched up her nose, and scooted the chair back as the smell of urine became more apparent.

"You should have just stayed quiet" she sighed. " You have given me more work to deal with than I really want to"

He shivered despite the warmth around him. Somewhere in the past few minutes he had lost his voice. Tetsuna didn't mind. She vented quietly in her soft cool voice.

"Now the Hokage knows who I really am in regards to the Red Underground. And he's probably going to do something rash. And guess who's going to have to do damage control."

Mizuki's mouth flopped open, and closed, but he still couldn't form words. He swallowed hard when she smiled. It was too much teeth to be a kind smile. It was the type of smile that spoke of vicious intentions. Covered in blood with her fire blue eyes, she looked like the yokai is mother had used to tell him about when he was younger. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he could feel the edge of his vision become dark as the atmosphere around him seemed heavy with pressure and it became harder for him to breath.

When he let out a shaky breath it misted in the air in a warm cloud. Was it always so cold down here?

"You're going to tell me what you didn't tell Ibiki Morino and the Hokage." Her soft voice wasn't a demand but a command. To think that he had been her instructor for so long and had been fooled with the rest of the village to think her harmless. He thought he was looking death in the face at the moment. But if Tetsuna was scary the thought of betraying the Yuki clan was terrifying.

His eyes rolled around frantically looking for an escape. He flinched at the sudden sound of her hitting her blade against the iron bars.

"I...I can't tell you" he finally stuttered, the terror he felt made his voice a little stronger. "They'll definitely kill me if I do."

A grin spread across Tetsuna's face. Her canines grew larger in her mouth forming into ivory daggers, that seemed out of place against the soft sensual curves of her mouth. Then thin lines of frost webbed across her lips and eyelids. It had took his teeth chattering for him to realize that he wasn't mistaken about the temperature dropping. He shivered, while he could felt the wetness between his legs freezing - covering his balls uncomfortably in a thin, but cold layer of ice.

It smelled of winter, blood, and piss. It reeked of fear, and death.

"Mizuki your under some false impression so let me desilusion you. **I'm** going to kill you. You are going to die regardless of whether you succeeded or failed in your mission to steal the Scroll of Seals. Whether it was by my hand or by the Yuki clans hand didn't matter. You are but a pawn, a worthless piece in a game between me and the Yuki clan."

Tetsuna watched with a dark satisfaction as the reality and the weight of Mizuki's situation was dawning on him. He now knew that whatever fear he had of revealing his employer was a useless one. She had already known who it was. The chair scraped against the stone floors as she rose.

"I can get the information out of you whether you tell me or not. I just needed to confirm who your employer was" She peered down at the pathetic form of the man beneath her. Her blue orbs bright as blue fire. " I might have let you go, even left you on the border somewhere to escape life in a prison, but you see ...I'm really annoyed at how you tried to obtain the scroll."

The temperature dropped lower - to dangerous levels that no human could withstand for long. Tetsuna felt the ice forming in earnest on the exposed parts of her skin. Crystallizing on her lashes, and sheathing her fingertips.

"I promised to protect this kids heart. He's an obnoxious brat, annoying really...but you know a promise is a promise. And then someone as dirty as you tried to taint what you had no right to touch" Tetsuna sneered and she let the temperature rise back to normal level. " I Just can't forgive you for something like that. So now I will leave you to live the rest of his life just like that boy had to live his, shunned and hated, branded as a monster to the people you once knew as comrade's. I wonder how your fiance -Tsubaki- will feel?"

She left Mizuki curled up in a ball, shivering and trying to regain his warmth, wallowing in his misery. When she reached the steps Tachibana was waiting for her, the hood of his cloak was around his shoulders and the light illuminated the long platinum blonde hair framing either side of his slim face in a dim halo. She met his teal eyes with her blue ones.

"You have my permission to use any means necessary to get the information I want out of him" she said. "But don't kill him when your done. I want to use him as bait."

"Bait?"

Pain throbbed at her right arm, and she winced slightly. The beads around her wrist burned into her skin.

"Just get the information I want and I'll tell you later" she sighed shortly, carefully gripping her arm beneath her cloak. If Tachibana was offended by her attitude he hid it well. She took the steps a few at a time and when she was almost to the top she turned around and looked at Tachibana who she knew was watching her.

"And tomorrow, before the Hokage does anything about the information he's received about me, I think it's about time to inform him _exactly_ what position he and this village is in."

With that she left. She had to be up early tomorrow to be at the Academy for Team assignments. And sleep was elusive enough as it was these days, not adding on the odd hours that she kept.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four **

_Pin pricks of sharp pain stabbed through every part of Tetsuna's small body, she was on her knees curled in on herself, head bowed, her small hands barely wrapping around the girth of the splintered spear of wood gauging through her._

_Flakes of ash and snow fell down in flurries from the pillaring cloud of black smoke over head, blood tears gushed down in rivulet from her eyes, turning her vision scarlet, streams leaked from her gaping belly down her arms and hands, dripping onto the ground to create a disgusting solution of mushy frozen water, mud and blood._

_Tetsuna squeezed her eyes shut tightly, breathing in watery breaths. Behind her huge orange flames clawed at the sky and the wails of those still trapped inside carried on the current of the screaming wind. It echoed in her head pounding against it relentlessly. She wanted all of it to end. The pain - the sounds - and the feelings burning her from the inside._

_She started the slow torturous method of un-impaling herself, her innards had been speared through and was pulled along, sending Tetsuna into spasms of white hot agony that made her body tremble. Her lips spread open and she emitted gurgling, drowning sounds as she tried to wail with blood gushing past her teeth. It hit the ground with a disturbing wet 'splat'. The smell of burning flesh, mixed with the putrid perfume of smoke, burned straight through the strong metallic aroma of her blood._

_She choked and she gagged, her heaving making her innards clench painfully on the shard, sending, if possible, and even more intense convulsion of pain through every nerve in her body. Her was sure her unsteady shaking hands caused her to stab through some other important organ inside her body, the pain made her shudder, and moan._

_But Tetsuna had to persevere. She had to get through this and live. So she continued to pull. Even when the pain became became the only feeling, the sound ringing in her ears, the smell burning through her nostrils, the image spilling behind her closed lids, and the coppery taste in her mouth._

_Her body arched backward, as she pulled out the final few inches from her body, with one powerful wrench. Blood splattered in a line of thick liquid, her eyes flew open, to peer emptily at the blotched out sky, her arms falling limply at her side, the wooden spear rolling from her fingers._

_There was the sound of rushing feet plowing harshly against the ground._

_Staring up at the sky she could feel something besides her body dying. Tetsuna's body began to make its decent downward, it felt like forever before she landed on her back taking in the two blurry dark figures becoming more solid as her vision became darker._

* * *

Tetsuna sat on her small twin bed in her matchbox apartment, just at the edge of the shopping district. She could hear the village stirring with activity behind her through the thin walls, as she dressed herself.

She started from the bottom, snapping weights over the calves of her slim fitting black pants snuggly, then sliding black leg warmers over them to hide them from view Then she rolled up the sleeve of her long sleeved shirt - which had a mesh upper half and arms , while the rest was plain black cotton fabric - and she began wrapping the seal on her arm.

All the while the lack of sleep pulsed at her eyes, the nightmares were always worse after she used the dragon seal on her would have mistaken the silver dragon that coiled around her forearm and bicep until it's rearing, snarling, head rested on her breast bone, and it's blue flame tipped tale touched her wrist, for a tattoo.

But it was more than that. To Tetsuna it was the symbol of the heir of the Yuki clan. It was a curse. It was the bane of her existence and yet ...It was the source of her power, and both the reason why she died, how she lived, and why she was fighting.

When she got to her wrist she was careful to maneuver the bindings beneath the onenju beads looped loosely around her wrist.

She looked at her covered arm.

The mark may have disappeared out of her sight but she still could feel it pulsing with sealed power. She stood and slipped her arms through the pale blue hoodie that was thrown carelessly on the wooden chair across from her bed. The hoodie's white fleece lined bottom fell loosely around her legs, and draped enough so that when she snapped her weapons pouch to her hip it didn't bulge through.

While tying her hitai-ate loosely around her hip, her thoughts focused on the night before. She pressed her thumb against her bottom lip and bit the tip. Her eyes narrowed in thought.

By the time she had made it back to her apartment gossip had already begun to carry on the wind, Mizuki had been officially and publicly branded a traitor and murderer by the shinobi ranks and civilians alike. Blamed not only for the death of his dead guard. But several others who had previously been assumed missing.

Mizuki had already been under suspicion by his peers for the mysterious death of a teammate sometime ago.

Old dogs never really lay to rest and framing him for mass murder had almost been too easy. It was almost scary how quickly and easily people will turn on someone - without an ounce of faith in that person's favor. She would admit that perhaps the Hokage and the council and maybe few sharper shinobi might find the sudden skeletons in his closet suspicious.

But so long as the people firmly believed it and demanded Mizuki's head - then there was little that they could do about control the mob, was to control the pillars supporting the people in power.

While her Red guard had been setting the foundations of shattering Mizuki's reputation. Tachibana had set to work on destroying his mind. Her guardian had previously been apart of the Torture and Interrogation Force, a faction of the Anbu black opps - and once trained directly under Ibiki himself. A man known to be one of the greatest interrogators of Konohagakure and possibly the shinobi world. Thirty minutes beneath Tachibana's mind to mind technique, mixed with his own special brand of genjutsu and Mizuki had been all but ready to spill everything he knew, and then some.

She peered out her open blinds.

Her suspicions had been confirmed. Mizuki technically had been hired by the Yuki clan - but not formally. In fact she was sure the man who hired him to steal the Scroll of Seals had not informed the other members of the Yuki council at all. He had been hired by Omoshi Yuki. A name she knew well. He was lower on the pecking order and more than likely was looking to rise above his station. But what he failed to realize is nothing got passed**_ that_** man's radar.

Omoshi would be visiting the village himself to be rid of Mizuki once he realized he failed, he was a loose end that he couldn't afford and he couldn't send anyone else to do, a fact proven by the fact that he himself had personally met and hired Mizuki.

She laughed under her breath. This was rich. All this time she thought that she would have to find one of the council members of the Yuki clan and one was walking right into her lap.

* * *

Naruto closed his door behind him and nearly tripped over the plastic bento box placed on his doorstep. He knelt and popped open the lid eagerly, not bothering to look for someone. These bento's had been silently appearing in front of him for the past seven years without a clue as to who left them.

Inside was home made ramen, and he felt like the grin spreading across his face might make it crack form the pressure. At first he had been suspicious of these small boxes of food. Kindness was ...rare, and he had made it his mission in the first two years to find out who left them. But after continually showing up without fail, and his efforts to catch the person also turned up empty, eventually Naruto accepted them.

Sometimes he liked to fantasize that they were left by the girl he had a crush on, Sakura Haruno. However he knew that Sakura hadn't left them. There was always a distinct smell left behind. Sakura smelt sweet like cake or candy. The scent left behind reminded him of tea. Tea without sugar. It smelt sweet, but it tasted bitter.

He would never openly admit it to himself but sometimes, when the looks from the adults in the village became too much. Or he was feeling depressed, he dreamed that maybe it was his parents who left the meals for him.

Naruto blinked and waved his hand around his face as if he could physically dismiss the dark turn of his thoughts. Smiling brightly he closed the lid carefully and hurriedly scribbled down a note on one of the sticky notes he began to keep with him. Then started for the Academy.

In the middle of the road he paused, uncaring of the people around him, and pointed to the Hokage monument with his finger and an eat shit grin. With the weight of the headband Iruka-sensei had given him across his forehead, and his bento tucked beneath his arm.

"I'm one step into surpassing all of you old bastards!"

* * *

Sarutobi peered into the clear orb on his desk. An aerial view of the side street that Naruto's apartment complex was on laid out before him. He watched as Naruto made his loud and boisterous declaration. He found himself smiling. Naruto surely had it in him to surpass the previous Hokages.

Across from Naruto's complex he also noticed Tetsuna leaving her apartment . She locked her door and peered straight at him through the crystal. For a moment he was unnerved by how sharp and precisely accurate her gaze seemed to be and his smile melted into a frown. He found himself reasoning with himself that she was just looking at his hawk.

Tetsuna pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and Sarutobi finally turned his eyes from the crystal to the two shinobi in his office. He laid his wrinkled, liver spotted tan hands over the top of four manila folders, two of them as thick as the space between his thumb and index finger, one a moderate size, and another that was almost thinner than he would have liked at the moment.

With a pensive draw of his thin lips he suck in the burning tobacco leaves in his pipe. Sarutobi let his shrewd dark eyes trail up toward the silver haired jounin who was standing idly with his hands shoved into his pocket, his one dark eye meeting his.

They silently had a conversation between them.

"Are you sure about this Hokage-Sama" asked not the Jounin he was presently sharing a meaningful glance with, but the anxious Chunin instructor who was presently frowning with concern, he seemed to stand stiffly as if he was in pain.

"Very much so Iruka-san" he started, blowing out wobbly rings of smoke. "Those four might clash very badly in the beginning … but I believe this to be our best option."

Sarutobi tipped his head ever so slightly so that the wide brim of his hat cast a shadow over his eyes to hide the glimmer of doubt, he was not entirely sure his plan would work. But shinobi in the village were very few and he really couldn't spread them out further than what he already had.

And the current situation needed to be handled ...delicately. Handling this carelessly could result in something... disastrous, with a nasty backlash that he was unsure if the village was prepared to handle.

Placing Kakashi as Naruto, Sasuke, and Tetsuna's instructor was the best option. He had connections to three out of his four students in some way and knew that the man could deal with their varying temperaments while also confirming and neutralizing the current threat that one of them had become.

After what Mizuki did Sarutobi wasn't inclined to trust a word that the man said, but any and everything concerning the Red Underground could not be ignored.

"Yes, having those three close would be for the best" he repeated. Reinforcing his belief. He peered at Kakashi. " And Kakashi-kun I want you to report to me right after you meet with them."

Iruka peered between them with a curious look but Kakashi understood the Hokage's meaning and nodded dutifully.


	5. Chapter 5

**Just want to say sorry about some of the chapters literally missing whole pieces of sentences. I honestly read the whole thing to make sure that it doesn't do that when I upload but it still manages to do that. **

* * *

**Chapter Five**

The heat of the sun warmed Tetsuna's face, and the rays of it's light pierced through her lids painting the inside of them red. She sighed and threw her arm over her eyes and adjusted herself between the gnarled roots of the large, old oak in the Academy's courtyard.

Her eyelids had felt so heavy that she had to take a moment and rest. She was starting to feel the result of neglecting her body and not properly sleeping. Mixed in with the muggish weather she felt lethargic. Team assignments would be given after the lunch break so she to took this time to nap a little - or at least rest her eyes.

But piercing through the sound of buzzing insects and the lazy warm atmosphere was the swirling anticipation of the people around her. She could feel it pricking at her skin, it was practically alive in the air . The opaque whirlpool of excitement.

"I wonder who's going to be on our team!?"

"I can't wait to go on cool missions!"

Bending her elbows, she placed either forearm on either side of her head and rested the crown of her head on her intertwined palms. The graduating students were becoming so excited that it was almost laughable. For genin level shinonbi there weren't going to be any cool missions, as they had worded it. They were probably going to be given village duties at most.

That kid probably had similar stupid notions in his head. Tetsuna snorted. He was an idiot like that. Sooner or later he'd figure out that there was more to being a shinobi than leaving the Academy and getting your head band. But for now...she hoped he was feeling good with himself.

"Hey did you hear about Mizuki-sensei?"

Before she had come to the Academy she had stopped at the Crimson Peony to visit her prisoner. Mizuki was being held inside the underground complex built beneath the brothel, where most of her Red Underground operations took place, and where Tachibana, and some of her Red guard lived . She'd instructed Tachibana to give him clean clothes and a clean room to sit in - more than he deserved in her opinion - they would release him when he recovered enough from the mental stress and physical stress that they'd put him through.

He needed to be competent and capable to act as bait.

Tetsuna was going to release him close enough to the border for him to believe that he had a chance enough to run away, but far enough so that the Konohagakure authorities could catch him.

She'd wait a week's time before she started her plan. Timing was crucial. Omoshi had to have already heard the gossip - it carried fast with the open trade, and traveling market. And he had to be close like in one of the neighboring villages, probably a small one. The Yuki clan was huge as a whole but there was thirteen councilmen that dominated over the entirety of the of these people were separated into the five majoring military countries in groups of two, one in the hidden village and another in the village of the dominating government.

The remaining three consisted of the leader of the clan -**_that_ **man- and two council elders, and their locations weren't even known to the majority of the council members. Omoshi had been assigned to the lowest country, which was the Land of Waves, while his dominating partner had been assigned to the village hidden in the mist in the Land of water.

He wouldn't risk alerting the council member assigned to Konoha by announcing his arrival into the Land of Fire by being in an obvious village. The Yuki clan and her spies were everywhere.

She'd have a few people scout out the neighboring villages to be sure her assumption was correct and to be sure of the timing. And when Omoshi caught wind of the news of Mizuki's failure and escape - she'd set up Mizuki's recapture. Tetsuna was sure that it would make Omoshi frantic enough to make his way quickly to the village to be rid of Mizuki.

"Did you hear that Uzumaki kid passed?"

"What! Really?

With graduating from the Academy and a future team on the horizon, and the Hokage suspicion aroused, Tachibana had advised her to let him deal with this. She would let him, for now, and focus on the internal problems she had to deal with. Like the Hokage. She sat up and brushed her hand through her hair, knocking a few stray leaves from the short strands.

"Where did Sasuke-kun go?" A girlish voice muttered. This voice, unlike the others that she just so happened to hear in the distance, was closer, and ...familiar.

Tetsuna looked up through her fringe and a pinked haired kunoichi paused a few feet away. Her head swiveled from side to side, searching for the Uchiha. Tetsuna recognized her from her class as one of two of the Uchiha's more ..._ **aggressive** _fans. Blue eyes met with emerald ones for a only a moment before the girl looked off skittishly and ran off.

Sasuke.

She hadn't thought about him in a long while. He was still apparently as arrogant and conceited as he was when they were children - as much as these traits annoyed her - she was relieved in her own silent way. To her it was a sign that he was still a child and had yet to fulfill what Itachi had laid out for him. Maybe one day he would look beneath the underneath. But for now Tetsuna felt it best that he remained ignorant.

That's why she stayed away from him. Had let him distance himself from her. Tetsuna realized that she tainted everything that she touched.

He didn't need to turn out like her. Or like Itachi. Sometimes the burden of knowing, and the responsibility it brought - sometimes it required heavy sacrifices.

* * *

Sasuke had managed to move as far away from Sakura and Ino and planned to continue to do so until the lunch break was over. He shifted his weight on a tree branch, trying to find a more comfortable position up in the canopy. The bark scratched his back through his shirt, and leaves brushed against the side of his face, as he crossed his fingers behind his head and leaned against the trunk.

The discomfort was worth the few moments of peace he managed to gain. Sakura had thoroughly annoyed him. Sure Naruto was a dope at the best of times but still... to just assume how he felt about not having parents. He furrowed his brow. She really pissed him off.

"Where did Sasuke-kun go?"

Sasuke blinked his eyes open, while his shoulders tensed. He unfolded his arms and carefully scooted forward on his branch. He made sure to stay as hidden as possible to scope out below him. He saw Sakura and thankfully she didn't seem really aware of where he was.

He was about to scoot back and relax a little bit more before they had to go back into the classroom but something blue caught the light and he turned his eyes toward the source. Then his breath paused and his heart gave a hard thump against his rib cage.

Beneath his breath he hissed out the name of the one piece of his past that hadn't burned down, but was completely out of his reach. A connection he couldn't bare to severe and he didn't dare try to mend.

As he took her in, he remembered the feeling he had when he had first seen her.

_Sasuke felt like he was on top of the world riding on his brothers shoulders, he giggled happily as they walked through the village. His small arms wrapped around his brother's neck, his nose pressed into his brother's hair, snuggling closer to his comforting warmth._

_His brother's feet paused, stopping the comfortable pace they had been going at. Confused he looked over Itachi's head to see what was blocking their path. His small face scrunched up in childish displeasure._

_It was a girl._

_She looked more like a shaggy dog with all that hair in Sasuke's opinion. Her head turned, and her scary eyes made him shrink back against his brother, his cheeks immediately flooded with crimson shame at being frightened by a female of all things._

_Pride hurt, he raised his head to meet her eyes again, but she wasn't even looking at him. She was blankly staring at Itachi's extended hand, eyeing the offered stick of dango as if she wanted to slap it to the ground and stomp it into the dirt._

_Instead she turned away from them and lost herself in the crowd. He didn't understand when his brother muttered the words 'maybe next time,' and neither did he care. Sasuke was too much of a child to care about the weird girl with the stupid long hair. His brain was more pleasantly occupied with the thought that maybe his brother would show him his cool kunai trick today_.

_As they passed on, he found himself peering at the spot the girl had been in and he wondered if she was in his class._

And with the remembered feeling of how he first felt when he'd met her came the painful memory of their last meeting. Sasuke clenched his teeth and tried to blink back the memory. But he failed, and it came flooding back to him without him wanting to.

_Sasuke looked at Tetsuna terrified. He hadn't meant to hurt her. He had just wanted to take that stupid scarf away from her. The rain pelted down on the both of them - but it was somehow muted out by the silence between them. Her silence scared him, especially inside the hollow remains of the Uchiha complex - a place that was filled with so much life not to long ago._

_A place that would never be his home anymore._

_Tetsuna's eyes were clouded, her pale yellow sundress covered in mud. The scarf that had started their fight was still firmly around her neck but dirty. Her long white hair was covered in bits of mud, and blood poured from a jagged scar on her forehead over her left eye._

_A scar that he had put there._

_"Your bleeding"Sasuke whispered, afraid. He took a hesitant step forward - reached out for her but she took a step back, and the cloudiness in her eyes faded, but they became distant. As young as he was he knew that expression. And he panicked. He didn't want to lose her too. She was all that he had left._

_"Tetsuna I'm...I'm sor."he couldn't get the words out. There was a lump in his throat and his eyes felt hot with tears._

_He stumbled forward, trying to grab for her to physically keep her there, so that she could feel what he wanted to say because it was so hard for him to speak. But Tetsuna had always been faster than him and she dodged his attempts. He tried to lunge for her but his foot twisted awkwardly and he hit the ground. Sasuke landed on his hands and knees, his palms stung. And mud splattered in his face._

_Sasuke looked up at from the ground. She kept blurring in and out as he cried._

_"It's okay." she replied with a smile that look sad. She crouched to his eye level, the strands of her long white hair covered her in a wet sheath, the ends brushing the ground. She untwisted the scarf from her neck and laid it down in front of him. _

_"You don't have to say anything, I understand Sasuke. I'll leave you alone. I won't come back."_

The memory of how she looked at him on _**that **_night ...it was just another thing he could blame his brother for. Throughout the years he had managed to only see glimpses of her around the village. A wisp of white hair disappearing behind a corner, a glimpse of her in the corner of his peripherals. He had always known it was her, by the lingering of her scent. Something similar to lilies frosted and wilting in the winter - a combination that was oddly sweet and bitter.

Other than those small, uncontrollable, odd moments, Sasuke had made it a point to avoid Tetsuna. She was a constant reminder, and undoubtedly brought back unpleasant memories - as he had just had - that he'd rather forget.

And She made him weak. Made him want to reach out to her and cling to her.

He used to share a bond with her so close and so intimate, that sometimes he'd sit up at night, craving that intimacy again. He was ashamed that he craved it even now, more than he craved for his dead parents, or the death of his brother. But he had pushed her away - it was his fault - but it was for the better.

A small voice that suspiciously sounded like his own whispered that he was a coward; he pushed that voice far into the back of his mind, and locked it up with all the other unpleasant things that he didn't like to outright think about.

Hidden away and undetected he peered at her, having a sudden, unbidden view of her for the first time. He put every detail that had changed to memory. Replacing all the details of the seven year old girl to that of the current one in front of him.

Time had made her taller, and he could already see her petite shape forming as her childhood roundness melted from her. Her face was slim and oval shaped, with a soft chin, and apparent cheekbones. Thick white lashes were half mass over narrow, sharply shaped blue eyes, that sat perched above a small nose with an upturned tip, and that above a wide mouth that would have probably softened if she smiled but only looked cruel in a tight line.

Tetsuna climbed to her feet, and stretched her body on the very tips of her sandals. She yawned, the the beads dangling on her forearm caught the light again. Coming down she brushed her fingers through her shortly cropped hair, knocking the the fringe around her face into place over her eyes so that most of her upper face was hidden.

For a moment she stilled completely, and Sasuke was strangely reminded of how an animal - particularly a predator - senses the area for danger. She looked around the courtyard, and suddenly her sharp blue eyes peaking through the white curtain of her bangs, found him in the shadows.

Sasuke's body had completely stiffened. There wasn't any possible way she could have saw him. Without realizing he held his breath and waited, then let out a sigh of relief once she turned her gaze higher up. A big hawk flew straight toward her, beating it's glossy brown wings furiously.

Holding her arm out she waited for the bird to land, and he winced as he saw the bird dig it's talon-ed feet into her arm. The creature was clearly tamed but he wondered why Tetsuna had a messenger hawk? Tetsuna peered back at the spot he was in and he was almost sure that she knew he was there, but then she turned on her heel with the bird still on her arm and disappeared from his line of vision.

* * *

Tetsuna had caught a glimpse of Sasuke not so subtly spying on her through the trees, along with the Hokage's own Hawk sailing through the sky. She'd left the open area of the courtyard for a denser area of trees, that would either force the Hawk to land or to leave.

The bird had left, no doubt to the chagrin of it's master, and Tetsuna made quick work of reading the brief note, and sending the bird of with a message of her own. Her Hawk, Maki - was bigger than the Hokage's Hawk and could intimidate the other bird if it tried to attack - so she wasn't to worried that her message would be intercepted before it reached it's destination.

"I wonder how long he was there for?" she murmured dryly to herself. She hadn't outright sensed Sasuke until she had gotten up from the tree roots. But she had notice him afterward - had had been practically sticking out of the canopy. Tetsuna was surprised that Sakura hadn't noticed him.

Rolling her eyes, Tetsuna focused on what she was doing. She was up pretty high and all she needed was to disrupt her chakra flow and lose her balance. Her body was sturdy. Tetsuna was sure she wouldn't die, but hitting the ground from this height would be more than ...unpleasant. Getting her correct balance. Tetsuna released the chakra gathered at the soles of her feet and held onto the side of the Academies building, her sandals dug into the side of the concrete wall, and her thick, round tipped nails bit into the wooden sill of her classroom window, till it reached the tip of her finger.

This was a normal occurrence and there were multiple marks from her nails from when she had to use this method to get into the classroom. Raising one bruised knuckle, she rapped the glass pane in a quick familiar rhythm, patiently, hanging a good twenty feet above the hard unforgiving ground, she waited.

It only took a moment later for the glass to slide open, creaking as it did. Her nostrils flared when the aroma of salt and barbecue assaulted her. This smell was always largely associated with her classmate Choji Akamichi.

Curling her fingers into the sill, she pressed her palms flat against the wooden surface and used her bicep muscles to push herself up, swiftly vaulting her body through the landed in a crouching position, one hand out to keep her balance; while her feet hit the ground with an inaudible step. Choji stood to the side, steadily munching on a bag of barbecued chips. His thick fingers paused on the way to his mouth, his pink tongue darting out to lick the crumbs from his greasy lips.

"Front entrance blocked" he asked. He seemed amused. She didn't answer him because the question was irritating and rhetorical seeing as the front entrance was currently and visibly being blocked. Tetsuna eyed it with a growing form of disdain, her lips pulling down at the corners. The gaggling group of females crowding at the door gave kunoichi a bad name, especially if they were fawning over the Uchiha brat.

Sasuke really wasn't all that impressive. Just a prince overly spoiled by the village.

Sasuke himself managed to sneak through the other door on the other side of the classroom. Her sharp eyes picked up his form hidden in with a group of returning males. For a moment his dark eyes flickered around the classroom - probably searching for the most inconspicuous seat. Their eyes met briefly and then his eye darted away, while his brow pinched.

"What a drag" Shikamaru yawned into his hand, peering out the window lethargically from his desk. Tetsuna pulled her attention away from the Uchiha and peered at the half-awake Nara. He scratched his chin, as if thinking about some menial thing, their eyes met briefly and there was a small form of acknowledgement. Then he placed his head into the crook of his arm…promptly falling back to sleep. Or at least appearing too.

She actually was never really sure if he was sleeping and unconsciously aware of everything, or if he was just pretending to be sleep.

The analytical genius raising his head at all was in his own twisted logical way of acknowledging the psychological strategist as an equal; she was always a good shogi opponent and besides Choji didn't share food with just anybody. Choji's chair scraped back, as he plopped back down in his seat next to his best friend. The aluminum potato chip bag was crushed in his hand, and then duly replaced by another; he pulled out a cookie wrapped in plastic from his weapons pouch.

Extending his hand out; he gave Tetsuna a wide smile with greasy extra flesh around his face animated attractively, as per usual with people with compassionate dispositions.

"I know you didn't eat lunch" he replied, simply uncurling her fingers with his unoccupied hand and placing it in her palm neatly. Tetsuna wouldn't eat it, and the auburn haired boy knew it. But Choji in some sense of selfishness did it more for himself, and she let him do it though he knew without out a doubt that she could crush the well rounded boy's hand before he could blink.

So accepting the baked good she placed it in her pocket to be thrown away later and trotted up the steps to her own seat at the very back of the classroom. There was no use in arguing with the Akimichi, she had learned the hard way that the boy was annoyingly persistent.

She remembered a time that he a had determinedly followed her for an entire week. Until she finally gave in and listened to what he had to say. Needless to say, she learned that it was better to let Choji do what he willed.

The classroom was full of loud chatter and obnoxious excitement that most of the newly minted Genin didn't notice her breeze past. It was rather ridiculous that a strip of metal and cloth would make so many lose their shinobi bearing, and throw all they learned out the window.

Becoming a genin wasn't that exciting. It was the bottom of the shinobi food chain.

Quietly she took her seat, and intertwined her fingers on top of her desk, observing the room and its occupants with astute eyes. They were like fresh lambs on shaky limbs, being led straight to the slaughter. After they killed there first man. Would that enthusiasm still hold or would they be crushed underneath the weight of it all ? You could train as hard and as long as you wanted but it took a hard sort of person to become a shinobi. You had to be prepared to take a life without taking along the baggage that came with it.

Predictably the noise in the room persisted until Iruka-sensei walked stiffly inside the classroom. With thinly veiled exasperation his dark eyes narrowed, he observed the unruly bunch of students, too busy chattering away or just plainly not paying attention to notice that he was there.

There were a few students who noticed the chunin instructor watching them with his arms crossed beneath his chest and his clipboard tucked beneath his armpit, and Iruka accordingly noted them. But it personally insulted him as a teacher that his students hadn't applied anything he had taught them, it didn't bode well for their futures.

Iruka brought his hand down hard on the desk at his hip. The room descended into a quiet hush, his point made. He gave the classroom a disapproving look, but didn't verbally reprimand them. Instead he leaned against his desk, trying to find a comfortable position with the aching pain radiating from his back; he flipped through the sheets attached to his clipboard, examining them before raising his eyes to the classroom. He cleared his throat.

"I have your assigned three man cells and instructors here" he started, holding up the board in his hand for emphasis. "However do to the current odd number of graduating students there will be a four man cell."

A wave of excited whispers swept the room like wildfire, only to be immediately squashed by one annoyed look from their instructor, after a solid moment of silence, he began reading off the names.

Tetsuna vaguely listened, her head rested between her folded arms. She wasn't particularly concerned about squads or who her instructor might be. She traced patterns in the wood with her finger, marking the time by the pattern of the sun floating across the sky.

She rolled a cherry flavored lollipop in her mouth. So long as they didn't interfere with the things she had already set in motion, she was even fine with being put on the same team as a dud.

"Team Seven. Sakura Haruno."

The ball of hard candy clicked against her teeth as she moved it around with her tongue. She had to stop by the weapons shop later today, before she went to the brothel. To pick up the weapons that she had had commissioned. Normally she didn't splurge the funds dedicated to all the things that went into her planning, but she wanted a new weapon - she'd been recently interested in long range weapons. Tetsuna stopped making patterns with her finger and began playing with the beads around her wrist.

"Sasuke Uchiha"

Sakura blinked, then smiled widely. Her inner Sakura was dancing around in her head triumphantly. Her emerald eyes sought out her blonde rival - Ino Yamanaka. When she found the girl she gave her a smug smirk. Sasuke was right next to her so she didn't risk sticking her tongue out like she wanted to. But she was sure that her expression conveyed enough.

Take that Ino-pig.

"Naruto Uzumaki"

Sakura instantly deflated, and she swiveled around in her seat before Ino's look of indignation could turn into something smug or pitying. She crossed her arms and glared at the eager blonde angrily. He was so annoying. He always ruined something for her.

"The final member of team seven will be Tetsuna Chiyoko."

The hot angry color that filled her cheeks had rushed away and left her pale and feeling ill by the suddenness of it. Goosebumps rose along her arms,and she peered over her shoulder. She could see Tetsuna at the very top of the class between two females, they were glaring as she raised herself, and her teeth bit into the candy in her mouth crushing it between her teeth with an eerie grinding sound.

The two females suddenly found interest in other things around them turning just as pale as Sakura. Tetsuna hadn't even bothered to look at them. But the narrowed frost blue shade of her eyes was enough to scare anyone.

"Your instructor name is Kakashi Hatake."

Tetsuna placed her hand over her mouth, while her eyes glittered frostily. They met Sakura's for a moment before she turned around quickly, feeling her heart beat hard against her chest,and wiping her sweaty palm on her thighs.

Tetsuna's fist clenched and clenched on her thigh. She peered outside, her expression nonchalant but the gears of her mind spinning.

Kakashi Hatake.

She hadn't heard that name in a long time. What was that old fox up to in that Tower of his?


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six **

As soon as she had gotten the chance, Tetsuna had removed herself from the classroom when the first set of instructors began to pick up their assigned squads. Now she was inside the bathroom with the door locked, and her head spinning in circles as she tried to piece the pieces of the puzzle the Hokage had presented her with. The initial cold anger had cooled as rapidly as it had swept her up- and now it was a dim simmering feeling,mixed in with perplexity, and a _**throbbing**_ headache. She had been surprised and unprepared for team announcements - and she chastised herself for not dealing with Mizuki's leaked information immediately.

Apparently she had been wrong about not caring who she was on a team with. Sasuke _and_ Naruto. Kami. Some deity out there was laughing it up at her expense

Tetsuna had underestimated the Hokage's tenacity - and now she was paying the price for it - it was nobody's fault but her own. Assuming that he would bid his time before he acted on Mizuki's information, and she would have time to intercept whatever counteractive measure he took with one of her own. But knowing that her current headache was her own doing didn't stop her from wishing Mizuki wasn't a crucial part of her plans - she wanted to strangle him with her bare hands until his face turned into an _ugly purple color._

The thought brought pleasure and she had half a mind to act on her threat.

"Tetsuna-sama"

Tetsuna was drawn out of her personal dark fantasy by the sound of her personal guard,Sayuri Mayuna. She was crouched in the window, her body one solid misshapen mass beneath her dark cloak - blocking out the light from the window. The smooth porcelain mask, decorated in a lined design of crimson peony flowers, that all members of the Red guard wore -rested to the side of her head. The only part of her that was fully visible was the harsh angular plains of her tanned face, and her deep chocolate brown eyes.

Tetsuna's tongue darted past her lips to moistened them.

Always at her beck and call Sayuri had gotten here in a short amount of time after she had sent Maki to retrieve her. Tetsuna hadn't bother to ask if she had been followed or seen. Sayuri was the best at what she did and there was no need for her to be questioned. The woman would sooner die, or bodily remove a limb than to be saddled with a novice mistake like being non discrete. She took her service to Tetsuna very seriously.

"I have something for you to do" she said immediately straightening from her leaned position on the sink. Sayuri stepped down from the bathroom ledge and onto the tiled floors. Her cloak swishing around her legs. as she knelt with one knee bent, and a fist pressed to the ground. She waited silently to receive her orders with mute loyalty. A single brunette curl fell between her eyes as her head bowed.

"Has Tachibana already visited the Hokage's office?" she asked. Crossing her arms over her chest.

"No Tetsuna-sama he hasn't"

This was an advantage. She would personally go see the Hokage along with Tachibana. Tetsuna had ordered him last night to tell the man exactly where he stood to let him know that coming after her would be ill advised. Now that she knew Kakashi was involved, she was thinking about shedding light on the whole truth. Originally she had only wanted to make sure the man had backed off of any rash decision he was planning. Now she thought it would be better to completely secure him in her pocket as a piece for her game. Then she could make her plan involving Mizuki go smoother with the Hokage's help. After he really understood what type of danger his precious village was in she was sure that he would be more than compliant.

"Find Tachibana. Tell him not to go to the Hokage's office until I leave this place. We will go together."

"Is that all Tetsuna-sama."

"For now. Yes."

The woman was gone as swiftly and as quietly as she had come, leaving only the scent of her light flower scented perfume behind. Tetsuna, now alone, turned to face the door. She studied the heavy wooden door with her lips pressed in a thin line. Her enhanced hearing had picked up on the sound of his uneven breathing. She knew it was him. He was the only person who would stand outside to wait for her for a little over twenty minutes, with a nervous hitch to his breath.

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and her index finger. Sasuke was going to be a nuisance. But as fate would have it their destinies were irrevocably intertwined. For now she would continue to keep the distance between them. So early in her game she was - as reluctantly as she'd like to admit - unaware of how **_that_** man had set up his side of the playing board and what he would do, and the means he would use to do it.

He had stayed suspiciously quiet in this whole mess that Omoshi had created - and had let him go surprisingly far without putting a stop to it. There could be a number of reasons why he did what he did. Maybe he simply didn't care or maybe he was providing enough rope to let the man hang himself with. Whatever the case was, the bottom line was that he was _unpredictable._

Which made Sasuke not only a dangerous liability - but also put him in a dangerous position. Naruto was in a similar boat - but he was safer than Sasuke. The blonde wasn't attached to her the way he was.

She sighed once more. This was going to be a painful experience for the Uchiha, but the confrontation was unavoidable. Better to get it done now rather than later, when his emotions could cloud his judgement and potentially jeopardize a future mission.

* * *

Sasuke waited outside of the female bathrooms with his arms crossed over his chest, and his face blank and impassive. Against his arms he could feel his heart beating rapidly - feel the pulse thrumming through his body - making him feel hyper aware of everything. His inner self was a complete contrast to his outward shell. After the last team besides their own had been picked up by their instructors - and Tetsuna had still not returned, Sasuke had went to seek her out. He probably wouldn't have found her if he hadn't noticed, and followed, the same messenger bird from earlier through one of the hall windows.

Some time had passed since he had taken his silent perch, but it was hard to tell when the feeling of apprehensive anticipation had yet to die down in his system. He was glad that the building was virtually empty and no one was here to see how pathetic he looked waiting for Tetsuna to emerge.

Sasuke had tried to reason with himself that he was only making sure that they wouldn't have to find her later whenever their instructor did show up. That it would be annoying to have her missing when the time came. But the excuse seemed too transparent to him for him to really believe it. Even in his head it sounded like a lie. And it did nothing to assuage his sense of pride. It seemed that as soon as the actual physical barrier of the distance between them dissolved with the announcements of team assignments - so had his own intentions of keeping the distance between them.

Something deep in him rationalized that this was a terrible, idiotic idea. That he shouldn't expect anything from her after he was the one to severe - or at least try - the ties between them. And like the voice from earlier he pushed it to the back burner with all the other things he didn't like to think about.

He heard the '_click'_ of the lock, and saw the turn of the knob. When the heavy wooden door swung open, Tetsuna was right in front of him. Not from a distance, or in far away glimpses, but right in front of him. He sucked in a breath and didn't let it go until his lungs were burning. There wasn't any turning back now. The pain washed away the underwater feeling this experience was and brought him back to the here and now.

"Tetsuna ..."

She regarded him with a lack of surprise and a cold indifference that twisted like a knife in his belly. He almost shrunk back - but stood his ground, and kept his composure, even if the lump that had lodged in his throat stole his ability to speak.

"Sorry _Uchiha-san_. I didn't realize we were on such friendly terms"

Her voice was dry, and sarcastic. Emphasising the use of honorifics and his last name. Sasuke wiped his sweaty palms against his shorts,his tongue swelling up in his mouth, as he idly wondered if he was a masochist or had some sort of masochistic tendencies. The cold attitude, the way she looked at him like he was something unpleasant stuck to the bottom of his shoe - he had expected these things, practically knew it was coming ...and yet he had still put himself in her path. Had thrown himself underneath her feet to be ground by the heel of her shoes.

"What do you want?"

Sasuke swallowed, his brows pinched.

"We need to talk."

The words that rolled of his mouth didn't sound like they were coming from him. They sounded cold, and detached. Completely different from the confused swirl of emotion that bubbled beneath his skin. He was proud of himself for not sounding desperate and needy.

To Tetsuna people were normally open books and easy to read. But Sasuke was completely different - he wasn't and open book ... he was as _transparent_ as _water_. With his creased brow, and his kicked puppy look - she knew exactly what he was feeling on the inside. And when he spoke - he had displayed that same ability that Itachi had, that she had - that ability to be cool, almost cold outwardly.

But like she said before - to her - Sasuke was as transparent as water.

"Talk? About what?", Tetsuna said one fierce brow raised." We were simply put on the same team together. Unfortunate but purely coincidental . That's all...What were you expecting?"

The hair on the back of his neck rose, and some instinct told him to walk away before the pain twisting in his gut became worse. Before she hurt him more. It was painful to look at her right now. Her glacial eye's pierced straight through him to his core, effectively dousing him out with cold bucket of reality. And brought his sense of guilt back into sharp focus. The full magnitude of those eyes on him was unnerving.

"Oh. I see. You thought we might ...recreate the past right." Tetsuna tilted her head and looked at him with a mocking expression, her lips twisted into a cruel, bitter line.

"You're pathetic."

Sasuke grit his teeth, his sense of pride inflamed. He averted his gaze to a spot just over her shoulder, unable to look at her. It was one thing for him to tell himself that he was pathetic in his own head. It was entirely another to be told it to his face. It stung worse than if she would have slapped him. What the hell was he doing!? What the hell was he expecting. Kami he was a stupid. What right did he have to be here right now? None. She had every right to speak the way she did to him...but that didn't stop her harsh words - or her cold attitude from hurting. From twisting inside his chest the way it did. He stiffened.

"Sorry. I'm not caught up on the past. I'm just here to make sure we're on the same page. "

He managed to smirk with false bravado. But if Tetsuna was unconvinced - he didn't know it. Beyond her mocking expression was a smooth impenetrable blank mask that gave away nothing to her inner thoughts.

"Make sure you return soon. It would be bothersome to have to come and get you when our instructor shows up."

With that Sasuke turned on his heel and moved as quickly away from her without looking like he was running away. With every step he took, his sense of self preservation built around his bleeding heart and he realized even more how stupid he was. How stupid this was. He had always been sure that Tetsuna would bring up unpleasant, painful memories from his past that he didn't want to think about. What he hadn't realized was that instead of making him just recall unpleasant memories - she was also going to make him form new ones.

* * *

From the stiff and tense way Sasuke had walked away - Tetsuna knew that her words and seeming attitude had the desired effect. Breaking off from Sasuke was her idea - but unable to explain the reason she had walked away from him, mixed with the things that had taken place on the last time they had met, he had taken it into his head that it was his fault. This worked out well for her. Tetsuna used anything and everything to her own advantage. Even if that meant playing head games, and playing on Sasuke's sense of guilt and pride.

She rubbed her throbbing eyes. Smelling Tachibana before she actually physically felt his heat radiating at her back.

"What a cruel woman you are, playing with a man's emotions like that. I could almost believe your act of being bitter."

Tachibana's warm breath brushed the shell of her ear. While the soft brush of his fringe touched her cheek. She peered at him from her peripherals, and placed her hand on her hip. The line of her lips thinned, as his words rubbed her the wrong way.

"And you're not cruel Tachibana?"

She could feel the man tense, he realized that he had stepped into forbidden territory by the true cold tone that creeped into her voice. What she had displayed in front of Sasuke paled in comparison, a cheap copy of what she could really be like. Turning she pushed her face up into his - still bent from leaning over her shoulder. Tachibana stood his ground and their breath mingled , while their noses practically touched. But she could see him steeling himself, preparing for whatever she did next.

"How many years will you continue to use Mei? Leading her around on a leash with the hope that one day you'll return her feelings. How long until you reveal to that poor. Besotted. Loyal, creature that your heart will never be hers, and that all she's sacrificed in your name was for nothing..." she lowered her voice in a mocking conspiratorial whisper. " That at night you wish to be handled by the hands of a man ... not just any man but..."

Before she could finish Tachibana jerked upward and took a step back, as if he had been burned. He smile was wary, and a little stiff.

"Your point is made Tetsuna-sama...I've help make you into a little monster haven't I.

She shrugged nonchalantly. Not denying that she was a monster. In fact she was the worst kind of monster there was. Although she didn't mind getting her hands dirty - she liked to psychologically break people. Broken limbs could be healed. And death could be a type of release no matter how painful you made the journey toward it, But fear - no matter what you did, fear always stayed with you, like a parasite. Even if you overcame it - it was always there, simmering beneath the surface. And all it took was one right word, one right gesture for her to crack a person's smooth exterior to let it slowly seep out until it spilled over and poisoned all reasonable thought.

But she thought she would correct Tachibana, and sooth the sting she had caused by verbally speaking on his guilt and private shame at the same time. She ran her fingers down his chest, smoothing down the already smooth material of the plum haori over his plain black yukata shirt. No doubt pressed to crisp perfection by Mei.

"No. I have always been a monster. You've simply helped me become a ruthless and shrewd one."

"Yes. I have, haven't I"

Although his tone was light - she could see the parental sort of gleam in his teal eyes. And knew that whatever pain she had caused had been neatly soother over by her rare, albeit vague compliment of sorts. She stepped a few steps back, bursting the intimate bubble between them and recovering distance. She regarded him with lowered lashes and a curious tilt of her head.

"Why are you here? I didn't ask for you to come."

"No but I have some information I thought best if I personally delivered it myself. "

He handed her a folded sheet of paper, from the crisp, firm quality of it, it had to be some type of letter of business. She unfolded it. She was correct in her assumption that it was a letter of business. The business being the legal guardianship rights regarding herself. In the Konoha registry she had been adopted between four individuals. One of those individuals parental rights had been null and void. Which only left three others.

Tachibana. Mei. And Kakashi Hatake. And the Kakashi was now choosing this time to exercise his rights as a primary guardian, and have her removed from Tachibana's care into his.

"I was also informed that Kakashi would become your instructor by your originally intended instructor. Team assignments were formed weeks ago. I'm assuming that Hokage made the decision to move you onto Kakashi's team just last night."

Tetsuna brought the paper to her nose and sniffed delicately. When she was satisfied, she folded up the paper and handed it back to Tachibana who took it and replaced it from wherever he had produced it.

"You're probably right. That letter was written just recently. I can still smell the ink coming from the page." Her lips turned into an amused smile, as pieces clicked together neatly. " He means to keep me under close surveillance and minimize my movements. Smart - but useless."

Tetsuna had did all her dirty work in the beginning. All she had to do was sit from her throne and maneuver her pieces accordingly. The hokage could lock her up in cell - and she would still be able to make moves and move her pieces. She had too much control - too much firepower for something so simple as being watched to stop her. But before she even had to deal with any of the potential espionage - as _fun_ as that _would_ be - she would put a firm stop, and a collar on the Hokage.

"Tachibana. It's time to reveal the truth and collect a debt."

* * *

Letting gravity pull him down from rocking on the back legs of his chair, Naruto came down with a sharp 'bang'. The sound resonated through the room, made louder by the lack of sound besides the ticking clock above the black board.

The silence had finally gotten to him and the waiting around. Where was this guy? The palpable tension in the room ever since Sasuke, and Tetsuna not long after, had returned was so visible that even he, as dense as he normally was, could feel it. And it made his skin crawl and his body fill with nervous energy.

Sakura - who was unprepared for the sudden noise in the silent room - flinched, while letting out an undignified squeak. Embarrassed and annoyed, she let her head snap around to glare at the blonde who was rubbing the back of his head and grinning sheepishly.

"Don't do stupid stuff like that Narutard" she hissed through her teeth. Sakura then rolled her eyes and added. "I don't even know how they let a failure like you become a genin, you can't even make a proper clone."

The blondes enthusiasm deflated just a little bit and although it was petty it made her feel slightly better. Sasuke had been ignoring her this whole time. Giving one syllable answers to her attempts at conversation or sometimes outright silence. Sakura was frustrated - she would never take out her irritation on Sasuke, and Naruto was an easy target.

Turning, she settled back in her seat.

"Haruno-san. How childish can you be?"Tetsuna said with a disgusted scoff. Her words were soft, but her gender-less monotone carried an edge that made Sakura freeze, while holding her breath. Then cooler flooded her cheeks. What was with her? It was just Naruto. Sakura turned ready to say something but stopped short. Her big green eyes blinking unsure at first, then in mute disbelief.

Any retort she had flew out of her head.

In the seat beside her Sasuke turned slightly to look at Tetsuna - not to give the simple glance of acknowledgement you give when someone speaks - but to actually _look_ at her. It was if her voice had brought him out of his silence. Forced him back into the room.

"We are all going to be teammates, and we are all going to become shinobi. Isn't it time we start acting somewhat like adults, we don't have to be friends, but at least remain professional." Tetsuna's face was calm, and her voice still smooth and leveled. And yet it somehow managed to emphasize and express her annoyance even more than if she had actually made the expression visible on her face.

Sakura let her mouth flop open and closed for a moment before whirling around in her seat. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Sasuke eyes remained fixated on the girl behind them, although the Uchiha's face remained impassive, his eyes were intense- and the fact that he turned to simply watch her was enough for Sakura to feel a feeling of unbridled jealousy boiling beneath her skin, setting her teeth on edge.

Sasuke Uchiha had never looked back, or payed attention to anyone. Especially not a girl. So what was so special about her!?What did she have that Sakura didn't!?

The wall of tension in the air grew thicker and it mixed in with Naruto's need to shrug off the hurt he was feeling at Sakura's harsh words. He tittered uncomfortably, his eyes roaming around the room for something to do; he spotted the eraser sitting innocently on the board, the gears in his head turning. A slow mischievous grin spread across his face until it was a full blown toothy smile.

* * *

"This is stupid Naruto, our instructor is a Jounin. Do you think he would fall for a something as stupid as that?" Sakura warned, watching the blonde carefully balance the eraser on the edge of the slightly cracked door from a chair he had pushed close to the wall. The said blonde looked down into her green eyes, with a shrewd look in his own.

"I know that, I just want to test our new sensei's skills is all."

Sakura blinked rapidly, surprised that Naruto had actually said something that made, in a way, some sort of sense, and if she was being honest with herself she really hoped that whoever this Hatake person was would fall for it, then at least one person she was annoyed with today would get penalized.

So silently she cheered Naruto on, because she wouldn't ever be caught dead doing it.

Tetsuna was sufficiently amused and her irritation from earlier had melted into a fading memory. The blonde never seemed to fail in providing a vast amount of entertainment. Her fingers deftly unwrapped the plastic from a lollipop then placed it on her tongue to roll it around, the flavor of the hard ball of sour candy was green apple this time. She- took the stick out of her mouth with an audible _'plop'_.

Her ears twitching as she picked up the soft sound of unmasked footfalls just outside the door. She thought it would be nice to inform her classmates of their approaching sensei.

"He's at the door" she said casually. Rolling her lollipop with her tongue Sakura and Naruto turned to peer at her. The blonde's mouth moved but flopped close in the next instant. His breath caught in his throat.

The classroom door slid open, and a deathly silence followed, along with a chalk cloud of dust spitting up into the air. The eraser hit the ground after sliding off a head of gravity defying silver hair; the owner of said hair looked around the room with one dark eye, the rest of his face covered by a mask and his drooping Hitai-ate.

There was a range of emotions displayed during that minute it took for the Jounin to blink slowly and then speak.

"My first impression is that I hate you all," he drawled slowly, "Meet me on the roof in three minutes."

* * *

Kakashi took in each and every one of his pupils, taking in their unique features and mannerisms. There was a long stretch of silence before Kakashi clapped his hands together to garner their attention. He avoided looking directly at the dark skinned teen to the left of the short blonde.

"Alright you four, let's get to know each other better, like our likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals for the future and such" he said, wiggling his gloved fingers in a sarcastic manner. "I'll go first"

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, as you have probably have already gathered. My likes are many things, dislikes well I have plenty of those too. My goals for the future, well I really don't think you need to know that."

Kakashi wanted to see if they could catch on to what he was trying to do, it was the second lesson he would teach them. Never expose yourself to a prospective adversary, no matter how affable they seemed to be. A simple enough concept to grasp. The first lesson had been earlier - when he had had them waiting for him. Patience after all was a virtue, and could prove invaluable.

"You blondie, go first" Kakashi said pointing a finger to the Uzumaki boy sitting between Sakura and boy twiddled his thumbs and stared at everything but Kakashi, he was still a little antsy at having been caught red handed, but when he finally did meet Kakashi's eyes there was a determined look in his blue orbs and an energy that spoke of a courageous character. It reminded Kakashi a lot of his mother.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are pranks and ramen, my dislikes are the three minutes it takes to cook ramen, my hobbies are pranks and eating all different types of ramen, and my goals for the future is to one day become and surpass the Hokage so that people will acknowledge me."

Naruto grinned, and adjusted his headband on his forehead. Well. That one was a fail, but he wasn't really surprised. Kakashi was glad however, to see that he had grown up in an interesting way. He turned his attention to the pink haired girl, Sakura. Who reminded him a lot of Rin. She meekly kept her eyes focused on her lap, her fingers twirling her hair around her fingers. Though her file had stated that she had the top score in her class for females, it looked to Kakashi that she had studied more than applied throughout her academy days. In this instance however he was sure that she would catch on to the subtle message he was trying to send.

"What I like is...well the person I like is ..." Sakura turned varying shades of red, giving Sasuke not so subtle glances. Kakashi understood and waved her off. Knowledge only got a person so far without the experience to exercise it properly. And he guessed most teenage girls were more interested in love than ninjutsu.

He turned his gaze to Sasuke, the Uchiha boy was sitting in the back, arrogantly meeting his eyes with a look of self righteous smugness, although his face held a neutral expression. It was obvious the boy thought his skill level was good, probably even better than his team members. It dimly reminded Kakashi of how he had been as genin and it worried him. Pride could lead to a dangerous fall.

"I can't really call it a dream but my goal is to restore..." his eyes seemed to involuntarily flicker to Tetsuna, before returning to Kakashi."... My clan …and to kill a certain man."

Kakashi let out a silent breath. He had thought as much. But he had found it interesting that Sasuke's attention had been diverted to Tetsuna when he mentioned restoring his clan. Did he have a crush on her. Kakashi stored the little tid bit in his mind to examine later. He now turned his attention to the girl in question. Someone he was well and vaguely acquainted with. Her pale blue eyes met his and he could see her as the head of Kongakures Red Underground. Like her adopted father Tachibana -her demeanor was calm and she had the uncanny ability to seem like she was peering directly into you. Her lips formed a humorless line.

And he knew that she understood what he was trying to do. Her blue eyes glittered. This girl was dangerous. And he used the term girl very loosely now.

"My name is Tetsuna Chiyoko ..." she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly."... the things I dislike and like are generally the same in numbers - I guess. My hobbies aren't really important enough to mention, and my goal in life… well we shall wait and see what that might be."

The girl in front of him was something sinister. It was like looking at a combination of himself, of Tachibana, of Itachi, and of that other man. And that in itself was unpredictable and a threat in itself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Tetsuna folded the piece of paper that Kakashi had given to her with the details of what the next day would entail and of what they should bring. After he had pulled her to the side, and informed her of the change in her guardianship, from Tachibana to himself. She hadn't even bothered to pretend to be surprised - pretending wasn't her style, but neither had she let her expression show that the news he was relaying was old and already known. Besides she could feel that his single dark eye had been probing her for some sort of outward reaction.

Just because Tetsuna had decided to unshroud her veil didn't mean she would tip her hand early.

Had the circumstances been different, Tetsuna might have been more interested in survival training. There was some hidden agenda behind it besides testing their abilities she knew ...Because there was no possible way three genin level ninja, fresh from the Academy, could beat a jonin with years of experience under their belt. Especially one like Kakashi Hatake.

Placing the folded piece of paper in her pocket, she brushed her fingers against the forgotten sweet Choji had given her earlier. She pulled it out and examined it momentarily. It was some sort of mixture of chocolate and almond if her nose served her correctly. Honestly in the sweep of things she hadn't paid attention to the treats weight in her pocket, or she would have gotten rid of it earlier. She lifted it to throw it in the waste bin by the doors leading into the Academy with a careless and dismissive flick of her wrist. But then thought better of it.

She had a better idea in mind. A small test of her own.

"Naruto -san...". Naruto's whiny voice, complaining about something related to the pinkette no doubt, came to abrupt halt. His warm summer blue eyes met her own curiously .But there was a wariness, a natural distrust in his gaze. He was open, and naturally unassuming normally, but he was guarded. Good boy. A certain level of instinctual distrust certainly never did anyone any harm.

Tetsuna watched him the entire time with narrowed probing eyes.

"Choji gave this to me. I'm not overly a big fan of sweets but I didn't want to throw it away so..." she left her sentence open. At first the blonde blinked slowly, like an unsure animal who had been kicked one too many times, and then his lips parted in a purely happy, carefree smile. He was still guarded but life had taught him not to dismiss anything free.

"Thank's" the blonde gushed happily. With a flick of her wrist Tetsuna sent it flying in his direction, adding a small amount of chakra to propel it faster. Instinct and reflexes kicked in, and Naruto brought his hand up to catch it. He snagged it soundly, then blinked in surprise.

She placed her hands inside her pockets - less surprised, and more satisfied that she had been correct. It had only recently come to her attention that Mizuki was not a man to be trusted, but she had always been suspicious of intentional sabotage in the blondes training, but had never been in the same class with him to see it for herself. And had been too absorbed in her own small world to go out of her way.

But what she did know was that Naruto had a vast amount of chakra and natural talents, but because of the nature of the beast inside of him it seemed many of the Academy's teachers simply overlooked it in favor of holding him in contempt of something had had no control or part in. And the ones that did not outright hate him, simply ignored him and had no desire to handle the rowdy blonde prankster. But with proper training and the right teacher, the boy could became extremely powerful in the future.

And if Sasuke ever let himself see past his blind need for vengeance, he might also become just as powerful. Again she didn't agree with what Itachi had done. Giving Sasuke hatred and blind ambition would only foster volatile and undpredicatabler results.

It was like giving a blind man a blade. But just because she was keeping her distance from both Naruto and Sasuke didn't mean she could help them along. Tetsuna might not have played fair in a lot of things but she would never willfully stump Naruto's progression or growth, or let Sasuke spiral out of control...especially being on their team.

After a moment of thought she thought to ...**_impart_** her new team members with some friendly advice.

"A little word for the wise..." Tetsuna said, making sure she met the eyes of each of her teammates. She didn't like Sakura, but she was also a member of her team and refused to have her as a dead weight. Despite everything that was going on, she did want to become a shinobi." ...Eat breakfast tomorrow, or regret it later."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, with a flip of her brightly colored hair, the look on her face indicating that she was thinking that Tetsuna was lacking a few brain cells. "Didn't sensei tell us not to?"

"Yeah didn't he tell us not too" Naruto mimicked. A frown forming on his face, while he scratched his head confused. Tetsuna could have taken the time to explain to them that Kakashi had been blatantly lying but didn't have the desire to. And this could also double as a lesson. So with a careless shrug of her shoulders she turned on her heel, and waved at them dismissively over her shoulder.

They would learn to trust her judgement sooner or later.

"As a team member I warned you. I'm not going to sit and argue with you about why I'm right. Just don't regret it later."

* * *

Sasuke listened to Sakura and Naruto contemplate whether or not to follow Tetsuna's advice or not for a full ten minutes, distracting himself, and if he were honest with himself putting distance between the girl who had just left and himself, before he finally couldn't take it anymore.

More than likely Tetsuna was right. As much as he bitterly hated to admit it - Tetsuna had always reminded him of **_him_**. And he had always been sharp, had always spoken only when he knew he was absolutely right.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and left. His turn of thoughts already making his terrible emotional state worse. But soon Sakura followed behind him with quick steps. The scent of whatever sweet perfume, or shampoo she used, or perhaps a combination of both invaded his sense of smell as she crowded his space. Her thin fingers wrapped around his arm, and he peered down at her, while she peered up at him with big emerald eyes, and lashes a paler pink than her bubblegum colored hair. Her lips parted in a sugary sweet smile, and Sasuke was reminded of how much he _hated_ sweet things.

"Sasuke-kun since we're on the same team let's...".

Sakura's words were cut short and she let out a surprised yelp as he yanked his arm away from her. For a moment before he walked away, he saw her hurt expression. But he couldn't find it in himself to care. It wasn't his fault that she didn't know the definition of hands to yourself and personal space, and if she followed him, then inadvertently Naruto would trail after her, which would in turn lead to him also following Sasuke.

He wanted to be alone. Needed to be alone. His blood was still hot, and he needed to cool down and clear his head. But every time he looked at Naruto, he was reminded how she had stop to give him something, and in the classroom had, in her own way, defended the blonde against Sakura's verbal attack, and it made him want to cave his face in, made him want to feel the blondes skin curl around his fist, while bone crack beneath the pressure. Because Sasuke knew without a doubt that whenever Tetsuna bothered to pay attention to someone, or go out of her way to speak to someone it was because she found them worth her time.

What did Naruto have that Sasuke _didn't_? What was _he_ to _**her**_?

These thought ran wild in his head, and it took him a moment to blink away the haze that threatened to cover his vision he moved faster, avoiding the front entrance, and taking the twisting halls to the back. Ignoring everything until it became background noise.

* * *

When Tetsuna pushed through the double wooden doors of the Academy's front courtyard, Tachibana was sitting on the tree swing just in front of the Academy, with his legs straddled on the swings seat and his back against the rope. The shadows from the fading evening light swallowed his form. With setting of the sun Tachibana's civilian persona was discarded as easily as the light and airy clothes he wore.

His lean body was covered in a form fitting, sleeveless turtleneck, and fitted dark pants.

For a second, in the brief moment of twilight, the past, and the now collided, merging together - melting together. It was time to bring this all together. She walked over to Tachibana, and he stayed seated, peering up at her with his long fingers curled together in his lap. His platinum hair was piled haphazardly on top of his head, wispy loose strands framing his face.

His expression was neutral, but his teal shards were methodological and assessing.

"From what I've gleaned. The Hokage will be meeting Kakashi-kun tonight inside his home. It seems he is becoming more paranoid since the disappearance of Mizuki... he believes it to be an inside job, and does not believe the rumor of him murdering his guard and escaping."

"It's to be expected. It _was_ an inside job...", she placed her hands on her hips. " What about the other organization?"

"The leader of the particular faction is far to arrogant to believe Mizuki's claims." Tachibana replied. Tetsuna crossed her arms over her chest. She figured that something like that might occur. This helped her out immensely. She didn't really want to waste her energy evading Root agents.

"And have all my loose ends been tied?"

"Yes."

There was a small moment of silence between them. She took a moment to turn around and gaze at the faces jutting out of the stone mountain side enclosing the village, glaring sternly down at everything they had created. Turning away from them she wondered if the previous Hokages knew how warped the idea of peace had become. How so many shadows had formed in the blazing light of the _Will_ of _Fire_. Sometimes she felt as if those men were naive and narrow minded.

"Alright let's go, we have to prepare. Showing up at the Hokage's mansion without being properly invited isn't going to be easy."

Tachibana watched her with an unreadable expression for a few seconds, before slowly following after her, his hands tucked neatly into his pockets. His eyes glittered in anticipation.

"No I suppose it won't ...but it will be _fun_."

* * *

_**8 years ago**..._

_Kakashi set his dog mask to the side, as he shifted through the charred remains of the Yuki manor. High up in the mountains it was bitingly cold despite the smoldering corpses littered around him. The mask he wore over the lower half of his face did not protect his sensitive nose from the pungent odor that permeated the air, and he tightened the scarf around the lower half of his face, trying to protect himself from the cold, and the smell. . Above him, the clouds were swollen, dark, and grey, and snow had begun to fall mixing with the ashes that has yet to settled back down._

_It was light, but this snowy region was known for unpredictable blizzard storms, and he didn't want him or his team trudging down the mountain if one should occur. __Around him the forest closed them in, the naked branches of the trees twisted like thin fingers reaching for the sky,rattling angrily in the wind. It was the only sound, besides the crunch of snow beneath his boots. There wasn't a village for miles, and the silence seemed to bear down on them knowingly, as if to judge the horrible thing that they had did here today. _

_But no matter how he felt. He was a shinobi loyal to his village - and up-kept that loyalty, even at the price of his soul._

_The need to hurry this up, so that he could leave and hopefully forget what had took place here, hit him in a sudden strong wave. Maybe he'd lose himself in a woman, or maybe he would drink a bottle of sake in his apartment until he blacked out and couldn't dream. He paused and looked around, but there wasn't anything left here._

_They had been meticulous, and had planned this before they made it to their destination. Making sure to come through swiftly, his team had first cast a genjutsu, then used poisonous gases to create sickness and hallucinations. By the time they had swept through the manor they had little difficulty in dispatching the clan members inside. And after that, per special parameters from the Daimyo, had burned down the manor, and the dead along with it._

_The fire Lord had wanted no trace of the Yuki clan remaining. Kakashi knew that under any other circumstances the Hokage wouldn't have bended, wouldn't have condemned an entire clan to death because the actions of a small few ...but after the attack of the demon fox ... political ties had become shaky and strained. _

_Across from him he could see Rabbit-san, Weasel-san, and Tiger-san covering their mouths and shifting through the remains as well. He gave a low sharp whistle and called them to his side. Killing helpless clan members was not the highlight of any of their careers, and although he knew that none of the members of his small team would complain, he wanted them away from here as soon as possible. _

_"We're done here. We'll stay the night at the cottage on the lower side of the mountain. Then begin the journey back in the morning" he said to them when they were gathered around him. His companions agreed with him and he pulled his cloak tighter around his frame, adjusting it against the cold._

_For a brief moment the wind died around them, an eerie dead silence followed. A then a sound like a strangled animal came from the back edge of the burnt out manor, ripping through Kakashi. The other's heard it too and they rushed toward the sound cautiously._

_"Kami !" Rabbit-san muttered beneath her breath, her feet coming to a halt. Pale blue eyes glared defiantly from the small soot, and dirt smudged face of a child. She was laying awkwardly on her arm, and the once white sleeping yukata around her frame was torn around her legs, and around the huge blood stain around her stomach. From his position Kakashi could see the torn and caved in flesh of her belly._

_The child couldn't have been more than three or four. Kakashi crouched down to close her lids, feeling sick. But the little girl let out a whimper, shocking Kakashi and keeping his fingers at bay._

_"She's still alive!?" Rabbit-san muttered. Her voice was a mixture of pity, and awe. Kakashi was also surprised...but a dark thought occurred to him. In all that happened, where had this child been? Beside's the soot covering her skin- she didn't have any type of burn marks. And although she was dying - it wasn't by any means that his team had employed. _

_So who had done it? And more importantly were they still out there, and were there more of them?_

_"What do we do." Tiger-san asked.__He already had his blade in his hand, ready to put the poor child out of it's misery. Kakashi put his hand up and stilled his hand. It was better to let her bleed out, it wouldn't be long, he was surprised that she lasted as long as she had._

_"We will wait until she dies" he finally said. Kakashi would not speak his suspicions out loud. Not when they could have been being watched without them knowing, and had no idea what was out there. He looked around at the corpses. Most of them were to burnt to be unrecognizable, which only made him feel more uneasy._

_He would have kept the child alive, if her wounds hadn't been so grave, and he would have had Tiger -san use his mind to mind technique to figure out what the girl had seen before who ever had did this to her had done this to her. _

_It wasn't until twenty minutes passed that they realized that the girl wasn't dying but ...__**healing**__. The wound in her belly was becoming significantly less deep. Significantly less in size. The rise and fall of her chest was becoming stronger and so was her breathing. _

_Kakashi bent down and pressed his fingers to her wrist. Her heart beat was fluttering rapidly. All the while her angry blue eyes were glaring definitely. Something about her expression, her angry will and need to live, struck a cord in Kakashi. A cord a little too close to home. Before he realized it, he had the small girl in his arms, while he shifted the cloak around her freezing form._

_"Let's take her with us" he finally said." I have a feeling this isn't over."_

* * *

Kakashi felt an odd cold shiver run down his spine. He brushed off the feeling, and followed the Hokage into his personal office inside his home. The Hokage let him step through the threshold before closing the door, he turned the lock, then performed a series of hand seals and pressed his palm to the wood.

Chakra seals activated along the walls, the letters became momentarily visible as the Hokage's chakra filled them and then faded and died out leaving the room the same as it was when they first entered. When he was done he gather his hands behind his back.

"I find that trust is very hard to come by these days", he waved his hand toward the cushions positioned on either side of a low wooden table, settled with a iron kettle, and ceramic cups on top. "Please have a seat Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi waited until the Hokage sat before letting his legs fold beneath him. For a moment neither of them spoke and the only sound that filled the dimly lit room was that of the liquid sloshing in the kettle filling the cup. And even then they drank in silence for a short time before the Hokage set down his cup and adopted a stern and serious expression.

"I would like to believe I've known you for a long enough time to know what that crease in your brow means..." he let out a weary and tired sigh. "...I would have hoped you would have assuaged my fears. But although I am not inclined to believe a word that Mizuki said ...I have known desperate men to spill secrets they think are important in attempt to save their own lives."

The Hokage poured himself more tea, and Kakashi choose is next words carefully." One meeting is not enough to confirm or disconfirm the information you have given to me Hokage-sama but..."

"Ah. There's always a but."

"...Healthy paranoia and precaution would do no harm in the situation."

"Yes. Because we have a_ long_ history of lacking both." The Hokage's expression soured, and his words left a bitter flavour polluting the air. He looked aged and wizened. The years were starting to tell on him, weighing down on him. The heavy burden of the robes on his shoulders and the hat on his head stooped his spine and made his shoulders bend from the pressure. Sometimes Kakashi wondered if his friend would have turned out similar. If his dark hair would already be sporting streaks of grey, and his pale forehead lined with groove marks. His warm, determined disposition, worn, like a rock in a river.

Kakashi placed his empty cup on the table, but paused pulling his hand back as a dark gloved small hand came into view from his right. He followed the hand to the wrist hidden beneath a wide dark sleeve with silver embroidery lining the hem, all the way to the sharp rounded shoulder, and the high collar of a Changshan robe, with a hood attachment that covered most of the head and left the face.

The light caught the side of a crimson Hayyan mask, glinting hellishly off the lacquered surface of the gruesome angry face, while the other side was twisted in long shadowy shapes. It made the curling horns, ominous beady yellow eyes, and frowning smile of yellow sharp teeth all the more sinister.

Kakashi's shoulders tensed, then relaxed the next instant. Something cool, and distinctly sharp pressed against his throat, effectively keeping him still, lest he slit his own throat or provoke the person holding the blade to.

The Hokage was in a similar position, and from his seat he could see the person across from him holding the blade against the older man's throat, or at least what he was wearing. The person wore a dark cloak and a white mask with red Peony flowers. From the delicate set of the fingers gripping the handle he assumed that the person was female.

The figure to Kakashi's right continued to pour themselves a cup of tea, taking Kakashi's cup and wiping the rim with the fabric of their sleeve. The only sound Kakashi was able to hear was of the adrenaline pumping and rushing through his ears as he tried to figure out just how anyone slipped beneath the Hokage's seals, and how neither he nor the Hokage had notice the extra three presences in the room until now.

"You are the Akuma no ō, the Devil king of the Akia chika, the Red Underground...", despite the situation the Hokage remained surprisingly calm. He peered at the individual. " Funny. I expected you to be.._taller_."

The was a small silence. And then unexpectedly a thick miasma of killing intent flooded the room, and although he could not see it he could feel cold chakra burn into his senses and hold him in a vice grip, that made his breath come out in shallow frosted breath. He felt goosebumps rise along the exposed parts of his skin.

"Sorry to disappoint you but twelve year old girls don't get very tall" a soft a familiar voice hummed sarcastically. The revealing of the face behind the mask, and hood were only afterthought.

Gloved fingers reached up to remove the mask, and push back the hood. Revealing a familiar shock of neatly brushed, short white hair parted and framing the side of a dark face with frosty piercing blue eyes.

The look that crossed both Kakashi Hatake's and Hiruzen Sarutobi's faces was one that could have chilled over oceans, but lacked the desired effect on its recipient. Tetsuna's lips parted in a brittle smile, while her bright luminescent eyes observed both of them momentarily. She held out her hand to the Hokage.

"You wanted to find the Akuma no o for sometime now and here I am...but let me properly introduce myself..._**I am Tetsuna Setsuko Yuki. Only daughter of Matsumune Owara Yuki, and his Heir**_."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:I do not own any of the Naruto characters. Only my own OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

_Rain pelted down on Tetsuna from the thick dismal cloud hanging over Konoha- she padded silently through the eerily empty streets of the Uchiha compound. Feeling more acutely in the devoid absence of life her own loneliness, and the lose of life that had been there just a few days ago. Once she left the compound and her memories in it behind, she found herself wandering the market district. Most people were inside taking shelter from the rain. And those who hadn't were in the process of doing so. They ignored her, sheathed in the wet white mantle of her hair, dirty faced, wearing on shoe. And those who did stop she simply passed without seeing them. _

_Lanterns with the red and white fan symbol of the Uchiha, hung from shops, window sills, and along the roads, a sign of respect and mourning. They rattled and shivered in the wind, the flames that had been lit the previous night, snuffed out, the breath of light stolen by the harsh wind, then completely exhausted by the following rain._

_The weather seemed oddly fitting for her mood. It was as if the heavens understood her inability to cry, and showing pity on her, did so for her._

_She stumbled, and the strap of her lone shoe snapped, the other had twisted off when she had been knocked to the ground by Sasuke. She stared at her swelling ankle, and her broken shoe, then left it there and continued on her aimless journey._

_Tetsuna was unsure how much time had passed, but she had lost the feeling of the stinging, cold drops hitting her angrily, and the painful, raw, blistering scrape of her bare feet against the stone paved road. And she was less aware of the rattling of her teeth. The only thing she could feel now was the cold numbness building inside her chest, spreading cold fingers and gripping her nerves until her body was numb too. At first she had found herself reaching for the familiar comfort and warmth from the fabric she had always had snuggly wrapped around her neck, and draped around her small shoulders,... But then Tetsuna remembered that she had left it with Sasuke. _

_It was for the best. It would only remind her of him. Of how he had left her like he promised he wouldn't. She didn't shy away from the familiar feeling of the coldness drawing her in- she pulled it around herself, submerged herself in her prison of barriers thicker than before. _

_So that no one could ever again make her feel this alien, unfamiliar feeling of feeling abandoned. _

**_'Tetsuna.'_**

_Her mindless steps paused, and she observed herself curiously in the reflection of a shop window . She met her wide eyed and blue lipped reflection for a moment, then let them trail until she met with iridescent violet eyes peering down at her from above her shoulder - Where a tall slender man stood. The rain did not touch his soft snowy white yukata, or his loosely tied ornate pale, silvery blue haori,- with crimson spider lily designs on his wide sleeves. It did not roll down the angular, almost feminine features of his face, or dampen the long spidery strands of royal blue hair twisting around his frame._

_He was untouched by the physical world around him, and if anyone were to pass by, their human eyes, rooted into this physical world would not be able to see him. But **she** could see him, because Tetsuna was not **really** rooted fully into this world, and she knew this creature, this divine spirit well. _

_'**Tetsuya?**'_

_She looked at him. Head tilted in question. It was rare for the dragon to appear. And he rarely ever spoke, simply observed her from time to time. _

_'**My poor. Poor Tetsuna-chan**'. _

_His lips did not move to speak but he did sigh. His cold breath frosting in a white cloud. He placed a cool hand on her head, then combed his icy clawed hand through her wet tangled strands, in a phantom, comforting gesture that she took little comfort in. _

_'**Why are you here?**.'_

_'**Because this is the time when you will need me most.**"_

_She frowned at his cryptic response, but he did not explain himself. Tetsuya brought his hand down all the way to the end of her hair, then wrapped a slender clawed finger around a few loose strands, he coiled them until the tip of his nail brushed against her cheek. Then he bent, his hair spilling over his shoulder, his colder than ice lips close to the shell of her ear, peeking through her sleek flattened hair. While he used his grip on it to bring her even closer._

_'**Some day you're angry hurting heart will be soothed of that I promise. But right now you do not have the leisure to lament on your feelings. That man is coming. He will take me away from you, block me from you. And then he will try and take you back to that life before here. But listen to me and I will tell you what you have to do. I know you are capable of accomplishing it. After all , you have faced death and defied it.**'_

_Tetsuya's words were quick but not rushed, and then he was gone from her side. He didn't need to tell her** who** that man was. She knew because she had felt him when she had went to Sasuke. And she felt his familiar presence now. And with the feeling of his presence came almost too easy the severe hatred, and resentment that followed._

_Tetsuna turned her head to see yet another man. But this one was actually rooted in the physical world, and had a closer connection to her than she would have liked. He was standing a few feet away from her, his body hidden beneath a shapeless cloak, and the upper half of his face covered by the stretch of black canvas rolling with streams of water, and protecting him from the fall of rain with only his lips visible. He smiled. But it was not a warm, or a happy smile. It was literally just a habit of expression with little meaning behind it._

_"It's been a while sweetheart"_

_Big blue eyes reflected like pale blue sapphires from her dark skin, beneath the hood of her lashes. While her small mouth set in a line of neutral expression. _

_"It has...Oto-sama"_

* * *

Sasuke fell onto the floor of his living room in a heap of exhaustion and heaving breaths. The heat and the adrenaline wore off, and he could feel the stinging in his palms. He held them up, they were covered in streaks of drying blood, and bits of broken glass shards. He began the painful processes of pulling them out, letting them clatter to the wooden floors, covered in broken pieces of anything he could have thrown, or got his hands on.

The feeling, the need to destroy something had been almost overwhelming, consuming even. And in the echoing silence of his childhood home the feeling felt amplified.

Sasuke had made it into his apartment, even poured himself a glass of water before the feeling settled on him like a vice grip. He had refused to cry, and fell back on the only reliable emotion he had.

**_Anger. _**

The glass had been the first thing he'd broken, and the feeling of it shattering beneath his hand, despite the pain that followed, had eased some of the pressure threatening to burst him from the inside out. And the sound of the breaking glass, started a sort of frenzie. Now his living room was cluttered with shards of glass, pottery, and even splintered wood. Sasuke pushed himself up on shaky feet and let out an even shakier breath. He pressed the pads of his fingers into his eyes just as they started to pulse from an oncoming headache.

'_**You're pathetic'**_

Tetsuna's monotone voice echoed in his head. Making his headache worsen, and his sense of self-loathing intensify. He _was_ pathetic. And he hated the way she had said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. But he would pull himself together. If he couldn't let go of her, then he couldn't find and kill Itachi. Because whether he liked to admit it or not - Tetsuna and Itachi were linked to the same thread, the same chord of memory of times where he had seen a softness in his brother that was extremely rare.

That made him ask questions like ..._Why?_...When all he wanted to focus on was avenging the injustice of his clan's death.

The first thing he had to do was sever the emotional bond he still had with her -no he had to correct himself - he had to sever the emotional bond he had with the memory of her. She was the same and yet ..._she wasn't_.'

Today was the perfect example of how foolish he had been to hold onto his need for her. Tetsuna had been crueler, meaner than before. But then again, she had reason to be.

Sasuke made it up the stairs to his bedroom. He push the door open, then he walked to his bed and fell to his knees in front of it. Reaching underneath it he pulled out a box he hadn't removed since the day he had shoved it beneath there. A fine layer of dust covered the lid, and his fingers trembled involuntarily as he went to open the box.

* * *

Yuki. Pure, pristine, white, snow - it meant a lot of things. But right now in this room the meaning of her surname was perverse and bitter. Tetsuna brought her hand back and placed it in her lap, when her offered hand was rejected. Her brittle smile melting into a neutral line.

Absently she could feel the beads on her wrist squeezing tightly, burning painfully into her skin. Despite the immense pain she kept her features schooled into a blank mask. And continued to forcibly pour her chakra through the room. Effectively keeping both men still. It wasn't the fact of her chakra being more powerful than theirs that held them - it was just much more malevolent in nature.

"Don't give me that look. Are you really both all _that_ surprised? "Her warm breath misted.

Hiruzen shifted carefully, mindful of the blade at his throat. Despite the lowering temperature and the hammering of his pulse pounding in his ears - he managed to recover himself enough to speak. There were very few times in his life that he had felt such a heavy and malicious presence, and he had been thrown off.

"I had...sincerely hoped that what Mizuki told me wasn't true."His voice wasn't as firm as he wished it would be but he managed a stern and disappointed expression.

Right now Hiruzen wasn't looking at Tetsuna, he was looking at the Akuma no o. A ruthless, shadow head at the heart of Konohagakure's criminal underground. It was almost _too_ easy to envision her in the position. He felt disconcerted. Whether she was the daughter of Matsumune Yuki was something he was unsure of. He had never personally seen the head of the clan, not many people had - and the clansmen themselves were a mixed group of individuals. Maybe it was her snowy white hair, or the unusual frost blue shade of her eyes, with it's starburst of silver around her pupils - or maybe it was simply her cold and frosty composure, or a combination of all these things ...but Sarutobi believed that she was at least _from_ the Yuki clan.

He glanced at Kakashi who's eyes were fixated on Tetsuna, but not faring as well underneath the chakra pressure. A fine sheen of sweat covered the younger man's forehead, and if the quick rise and fall of his chest was any indication he was struggling for breath. He was concerned for him, but he was also concerned about other the things. If what Tetsuna was saying were true then there were a lot of implications behind it. He hoped what he was thinking wasn't true. He already had so few people he could trust.

"But somewhere you knew it _was_ true.", Tetsuna said. Bringing Hiruzen's attention back to herself." A shinobi always trust his instincts. If you had _really_ believed what Mizuki had said was a lie then you would have laughed it off. Instead you went out of your way to make sure I had a **guard dog**."

Hiruzen said nothing in return, because it was true. He might not have fully realized until now that yes, in some sense he had believed what Mizuki had said, but he had believed it.

Tetsuna took her abandoned tea cup and pressed it to her lips. The liquid inside was tepid, a little close to cold, but the flavor was still good. She hummed her pleasure.

"This is good." Her eyes remained fixated on the dark green liquid inside. " Sayuri please take Kakashi - san and leave. I would like to speak with the Hokage alone."

Still beneath the influence of her chakra's pressure, Kakashi had little time to react or defend himself against the swift jab to the pressure point in his neck. Tetsuna watched as Tachibana caught Kakashi before his limp form could unintentionally behead itself on his blade. Carefully Tachibana seethed his blade and hoisted the limp man up in his arms.

This was the reason she had planned to have Tachibana as the one keeping Kakashi at bay, and why Sayuri was behind the Hokage. Now she could force Tachibana's hand.

"You leave too."

She spoke without looking at him but she did not need to look at Tachibana to know he was ready to argue, to hesitate. Tetsuna could practically feel his teal blue orbs burning into the side of her face beneath his mask. Again Tetsuna was choosing to block him out. But he remained wisely silent. He knew better. Right now the Hokage was probing for any weakness. Any insubordination on his part would be a targeted later.

Instead of speaking both Sayuri and Tachibana bowed their heads. But Tetsuna could tell by Tachibana's jerky movements that he was upset. Sayuri seethed her blade back into the folds of her cloak, and she moved over to Tachibana's side and took some of Kakashi's weight. After that they removed themselves from the room.

Tetsuna waited for them to leave, and found interest in peering at her reflection in the liquid. Without the impending threat of slitting his throat, the Hokage's body unstiffened but the tension didn't fade. She watched him carefully through the fan of her lashes, easing up the flow of chakra.

"Are you that bold that you release your advantage over me?"

The Hokage was genuinely curious, and Tetsuna smiled wanly. He was probing for information.

"Not at all. I am by no means powerful enough to go toe to toe with you" she replied lightly.

Her wan smile remained, eyes narrowing as she fully set her eyes on him. " But what makes you think I don't have an advantage. I have Kakashi Hatake as a potential hostage now. I have Mizuki. And I have control of the entire underground tunnel system of the Land of Fire's criminal underworld."

She arched her brow as if to say, '_where was I lacking and Advantage again_'. There was silence that followed. And the Hokage kept his composure but she didn't miss the slight tick of his jaw.

"Why are you here? " Sarutobi finally asked after a long drawn, uncomfortable silence. Even through his neutral tone of voice she could tell that he was displeased, upset.

Pushing herself to her feet, she clasped her hands behind her back and walked around his small but comfortable office. Her Changshan was long, it spilt at her hips and tapered between her legs revealing the dark pants she wore underneath, and the legwarmers they were tucked into. The only splash of color in her black robe was the pale blue sash around her waist , fluttering around her legs as she moved, and the silver designs swirling on the edges of her sleeves and the collar of her neck.

Occasionally she ran her gloved fingers over some artifact or paper weight that caught her attention.

"You tell me why I'm here" she retorted,not paying any real attention to the Hokage at the moment. She caught how his nostrils flared. And his slammed his fist into the table. The tea wear on the table rattled, and his cup rolled off the table and smashed into the floor.

Hiruzen was upset and he was furious but he was more saddened than anything else.

"This is no time to be playing games. What you've done tonight is considered an act of treason and is punishable by death. Not counting the crimes you have committed as the Akuma no o, if that is indeed who you are."

His tone was harsh but soft. He wanted to make her see reason. There was no way he couldn't believe what she said, or who she said she was in regards to the Red underground, no matter how much he wanted to. The Hayyan mask was proof enough, the people might have been unwilling to talk. Some mixture of begrudging respect and fear keeping their mouths firmly shut. But his police task force and reports form his own shinobi gave a particular description of the Demon king's mask and what his acolyte's were normally seen in.

Black cloaks, and porcelain masked covered in designs of crimson peony flowers.

"Oh my, and here I thought you were soft. Calm yourself Hokage-sama. I am but a child. And all children like to play games."

"Can you really call yourself a child?"he asked seriously.

There was nothing that could excuse what she had done. There was a history, a ledger filled with red, and broken families. All at the hands of the person standing in front of him. It hurt his heart to see that Tetsuna was the cause of all of that.

"No I guess I'm not really a child in some sense. But we are all children at heart. And children can sometimes be limitless in their cruelness, in the harsh quality if there words and actions."

She peered at him. And Hiruzen found a surprisingly sage quality to her eyes. They had an expression of someone who had seen and experienced too much. Just like Itachi's. And he found himself wondering if she had always looked like that, or had she learned to make such an expression through her own personal experience's.

"Wise words. But I doubt you went through the trouble of coming here in the way you did to speak philosophies? Tell me why are you here."

Tetsuna examined a few of the his calligraphy brushes, all neatly lined up and cleaned. She fingered the bristles and pressed wide brim of her sleeve to her mouth. She coughed slightly and the metalic taste of iron followed. Her time bracket was shortening. The strain she was placing on her body would become to much to bear.

"That is you greatest asset and your single flaw Hokage-sama. That benevolent, pacifistic nature of yours. To be honest it puzzles me sometimes ."

Her voice was thoughtful as she walked toward his desk, and carefully removed his pipe and tobacco leaves from the special drawer he kept them in to keep Konohamaru from getting in it when he came over. Then she returned to the low table, and folded herself in the seat previously occupied by Kakashi so that she was across from hims, and handed the Hokage the things in her hands .

"Would you like to smoke while we talked?."

Tetsuna could tell that, the fact that she knew exactly where to find his pipe was not lost on him and that simple action spoke louder than anything she could have possibly said to him. He fixed his pipe while she watched him with an observant, and meaningful gaze.

"Thank you", the Hokage said between puffs of smoke.

Tetsuna wrinkled her nose, and intertwined her fingers together on top of the table. Too many nights spent in the Crimson Peony had made her grow a dislike of any tobacco products. She waited until the Hokage puffed a few times on his pipe, and blew out dark grey clouds of smoke, respectfully in the opposite direction of her, before she choose to speak.

"Originally I had no intention of even coming here in person. I intended to play in the shadows and warn you what type of position you were in. You are very right to have little trust in the people around you."

The Hokage took what she said into consideration for a moment,while a troubled line formed between his brows. Like she had said he was right to be mistrustful. There were a number of people that were against his pacifist ways and approach to life. Plenty of them had positions on his council and worked in his administrative office.

"But in a short matter of a day between what happened with Mizuki and now. You have managed to place me in a semi awkward position. Although I'm really not hindered - I thought it be better to tell you the complete truth of the position you are in, so I don't have to deal with your meddling later. And call on your help when I need it."

"And why do you think I will help you?"

Hiruzen thought that maybe Tetsuna was slightly mentally unstable, but it was a brief thought. She was actually a shrewd girl. She had to be if she had managed to make something out of a once dying criminal underworld, and seize it into complete obedience through means of terror tactics. His eyes narrowed and his lip tightened pensively on the end of his pipe at the absoluteness of her expression, as if she already knew the outcome and was simply humoring him with conversation.

What advantage did she have that might make him bend his will?

"Because I know how you value Konohagakure as one big family..._Why help me_?..." Tetsuna said, the sharp white points of her teeth flashing. Her shoulders lifted in a nonchalant shrug. "... Because if you don't you will be single handedly responsible for the destruction of your family. For the snuffing out of the _Will_ of_ Fire_."

"What do you mean? Are you threa..."

Tetsuna raised her hand to silence him, while she spoke cutting him off.

"No I'm not threatening you or the village. I wouldn't waste my time talking to you if I planned on destroying Konoha, I would just do it. You apparently really don't fully believe who I say I am. Do you need proof ?". Tetsuna curled her fingers around her left sleeve and slid it up her arm, bunching the material at her shoulder. The silver ink of her dragon seal caught the light, and caught the Hokage's attention. He sucked in a breath.

"_Is that_ ...!?"

Hiruzen's voice died in his throat, and the tight grip he had on his pipe all but loosened. He had seen many strange things in his life. And he could recount most of them. One thing he remembered was the strange metallic ink that was exclusively made by the Yuki clan. An ink that remained like liquid silver even when tattooed on a person's skin.

_And the symbol on her arm_. A coiling dragon, with strategically placed flowers in its coiling form - was only ever associated with one clan in particular. One he wished he would never have the misfortune of encountering again.

"Yes. I'm glad you are aware of exactly what this ink and this symbol means." Hiruzen watched as she let the sleeve fall back over her arm. He felt as if a rug had been pulled from beneath him. His head had come to a complete halt. And he suddenly felt very anxious.

"I almost feel sorry for you. The Fire Daimyo sent you against an enemy you were ill prepared to face, and he underestimated the things that Matsumune was and is capable of. Just like you underestimate his ability to hold a vendetta, and his apparent disinterest in the village."

A lot of things were falling into place. Like for instances how strangely the previous Fire Daimyo's family had died. There had been a lot of speculation, and the man himself suffered from serious trauma - that had led him to be institutionalized. He looked directly into Tetsuna's eyes.

"Are you here as an emissary for your clan."

"Hardly" Tetsuna snorted with such a derisive contempt that it made the Hiruzen blink. His eyebrows pinched, deep lines marked his forehead. He had thought that in that moment he had figured out what she was doing here,and why she was posing as the head of the Red Underground. It was no secret that the Yuki clan had become a powerful entity in the elemental lands, and had their hands in all aspects of illegal, and legal parts of life.

But from the obvious disgusted tone of voice. It was clear to him that she was not overly fond of her clan. But then why tell him she was the heir, and daughter of the Clan's leader. Hiruzen felt more in the dark than when this conversation had started.

"The only ties I share with my clan are blood. I don't even claim the clan's name. In fact you could even say I am at war with Matsumune. I intend to destroy his clan until there is nothing left."

Again she had rendered Hiruzen speechless. And the rudimentary word of _'why'_ fell from his lips,... But he could hardly find anything else to say. The girl in front of him was too puzzling for him to begin to comprehend. Her composure was unnerving. Her facial expressions, only revealed what she wanted to reveal, and beneath that there was nothing. Just a solid carefully crafted mask.

"My reasons are my own and as they will continue to be. You don't need to know why I'm doing what I'm doing, you don't even need to know how. You just need to know your options."

"Then why reveal all this, I could have you locked up in a cell in the Correctional facility before the sun even rises."

At his threat she rolled her eyes._ She_ knew it was an empty threat, just as _he_ knew it was an empty threat. The Hokage had a soft heart. He was a pacifist, and was not equipped to handle someone like her. Look at how he had dealt with Danzo Shimura. Danzo had done a number of questionable things over the years, and was still using and operating with Root agents even though the Hokage had explicitly demanded the disbandment of the darker side of the Anbu. Why, she was not sure of, but apparently Shimura thought it wasn't a worthy enough reason to continue to not operate, and he still did so. And she was sure the Hokage knew.

The Hokage was more likely to try to reform her than condemn her. Of this she knew but she still played along.

"And before I leave this office, I can turn your village on it's head. I bet you're wondering how I so easily slipped in and out of your seals. How I even gained access to your personal home...And despite my claims of being the Akuma no o, you have no tangible evidence. No one has ever seen my face, and the Akai chika is not an actual criminal organization, it is a serious of sophisticated networks of both the illegal and the legal aspects of the Land of Fire."

She waved her hand in an ambiguous gesture, with a tilt of her head, and a humorless smile playing at her lips.

"Lock me up. I'll pretend to be a scared little girl. And the people who wish to see you out of this office will come swarming in ready to accuse of you of becoming senile, chasing nothing but shadows, too old and unfit to operate as the head of the village. Just like they did to you before. And then those people will place someone that they have their hooks into, into this office, and then what would become of your precious villagers?...But that is not the worst of it."

"And what would be the worst of it?"

Tetsuna straightened slightly, and slid her arms into the wide sleeves of her robe. She could feel her hands had begin to tremble, and her stomach start to twist and clench painfully. She had ignored her pain for the most part, but it was surmounting into something even she couldn't ignore for much longer.

"Don't you find it strange that Matsumune hasn't retaliated once over the past seven years for the hand that you had in attempting to destroy his clan at the order's of the previous Fire Daimyo. If _I_ know you were responsible for the massacre of our clan members, don't you think_ he_ is also aware of your part in it?"

The implications made his blood run cold. Not once had he forgotten that particular sin that he had committed. Choosing the greater good of his village over the lives of others, a darker part his history. His throat felt tight, and his heart ill. Yes he had thought it strange, and had never stop worrying that one day the Yuki would come to exact their revenge. But he had thought it best to let sleeping monsters like that lay to rest.

"Hokage-sama, I am the only reason why Matsumune hasn't also made an example of Konohagakure like he did the previous Fire Daimyo."

Finally a look of understanding washed over the Hokage's features. Tetsuna watched as he placed everything together, but he still looked confused.

"The head of the Yuki clan hasn't attacked Konoha because you - his daughter- lives here. But then why not take you back with him? Why not remove you from Konoha and the retaliate?" he asked. None of this was making sense.

"Did you not hear a word I said. I am at war with Matsumune Yuki right now. My father is a twisted and complicated man. He acknowledges my hatred, acknowledges that my wish is to have the Yuki clan at my feet. He has allowed me to create my own power, set up my own board. And right now, this is a game between me and him and the pieces on the board are just collateral damage, and he does not tolerate interference of any kind."

"Do you think you can just play with the lives of others like that? Do you not have any value for human life?"

"No I don't." Tetsuna deadpanned.

" But the question her is..._how much do you_?. Once I am removed, or you interfere with the game between me and that man, rest assured that he will not take kindly to it. And he will not hesitate to destroy this place. He will rape your females, and he will slaughter you children. He will deface your monument into rubble, while burning every last trace of you from existance until Konohagakure is a scorch mark on the land. Will you concede? Or Will you let your blind moralistic values, and your black and white way of thinking ultimately destroy your precious village and all the lives you promise to protect "

* * *

_**Please leave your thoughts and opinions, and thank you for the ones who have been sticking it out and dealing with me.**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:I do not own any of the Naruto characters.**

* * *

**Chapter nine**

Sometimes in battle, before the victory of your enemy, there is a moment - and window of opportunity for defeat. There were plenty of moments like these in Hiruzen's life. Were the worst had turned the tide, and some battle had gone in his favor.

But there was nothing he could do. No opportunity for him to seize to protect his people. He felt himself once again faced with the decision of sacrificing some of his moral beliefs for the greater good of the people around him.

He clenched his fist in his lap, and bowed his head. Unwilling to speak his defeat outloud.

"You already knew the outcome of this didn't you?"

The rolling wave of chakra receded, pulling back into the seal on her arm, and relieving her internal organs of the crushing, twisting pressure building up from the imbalance in her spiritual,and physical energies. . Replacing it with an insistent throbbing that while still painful, was not as bad has before. Her arm still burned, and the beads around her wrist were starting to cause her fingertips to tingle with numbness.

She flexed her fingers in her lap, feeling the frost clinging to her fingers crack.

"No...Not really. And yet... I suppose I did."

This admittance was said honestly. There was no gloating of her victory. She was just being frank. Tetsuna hadn't assumed she would win. She knew she would, simply based off of who Hiruzen Sarutobi was.

She picked up her mask off the table, tucking it beneath her armpit. Then pushed herself to her feet. She bowed respectfully, bending low at her waist.

"Thank you for your time Hokage-sama. Kakashi Hatake will be returned to you. And you can rest assured that the Akia chika will do no more than what they are currently doing now"

Hiruzen's lips tightened.

"And Mizuki?"

Tetsuna's mouth twitched.

"I currently have use for him. I won't kill him. You can have him back once I am done with him."

As expected her answer was elusive. Hiruzen was coming to understand that this was just how Tetsuna was. He didn't like the answer but he would have to be satisfied with it.

"What will you do now?"

"Sleep. I have survival training in the morning after all."

* * *

Tetsuna stood on the rooftop of the the Hokage's mansion, her feet right on top of the bright red streak of paint that made up part of the fire Kanji painted on the stone floor.

Her mask was still tucked beneath her arm, and her hands were folded into the sleeves of her warmth of night felt almost intensified against the frostbitten parts of her body. Which consisted of her collarbone, down part of her shoulder blade, and the majority of her arm, and hand.

Using the seal two days in a row without proper meditation to regulate her energies was taking it's toll on her body. She sighed, it was a small price to pay, and soon enough she would't have to pay it anymore.

The mansion was the highest building in all of Konoha, she took a moment to take in the jewels of electric light nestled between the cluster of trees, and the potent scents of the night markets wafting in the breeze. During her silent meditation, something familiar brushed against her senses.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. And she looked out into the night with a new perspective.

"So everything went as planned ... even the unforeseen parts."

That familiar feeling slipped from her grasp, and faded into the background. She pinched her lips in a thin line, and turned to Tachibana, her blue eyes frosty.

"You were only aware of what involved _you_ \- and that was all you needed to know" Tetsuna said indifferently.

Whatever effect her harsh words had on him was hidden beneath the smooth porcelain mask over his face. She faced the village once more, and placed her Hayyan mask over her face.

"I do what I do for a reason. You don't need to know those reasons. You just need to trust me" she added a little more softly.

Placing her hands in the tiger seal, she performed shunshin no jutsu and disappeared in whirlwind of violent cold air.

Tachibana stood there for a moment, and he let out a tired breath.

"I know" he murmured to no one.

He crossed his arms over his chest. Spreading out his chakra to feel the area.

Initially Tachibana had been indignant at being dismissed, but it hadn't taken him long to see the wisdom in her decision.

Old he may be, but Hiruzen Sarutobi, was observant. Tachibana had spent a number of years not only as a shinobi but as member of Anbu. Cloaks, and mask were a daily habit - and a shinobi like the Hokage could see through simple things like coverings, or even genjutsu to hide chakra. It was also the reason they had planned for Kakashi to be removed from the room. Hatake had an amazing sense of smell, probably even better than the Inuzuka. His scent was familiar to him, and there was always the probability that Sayuri would cross paths with him.

Konoha was large in size, but small in community. It wouldn't have been safe for him or Sayuri to be there, and still remain anonymous. And that was where the power of the Akai Chika derived from, their anonymity.

You couldn't fight an enemy if you didn't know were to look.

But this understanding came with bitterness,discontent, and restlessness as he wondered when Tetsuna would no longer continue to need him.

He finished his probe. The area was clear. And he was mildly surprised - though he knew that he shouldn't be - that she had gotten the Hokage to submit so totally in such a short time.

But he had always knew that she was a special girl. She could probably have the world at her feet if she wanted to. He just hoped that she wouldn't discard him in the meantime. He lived for her. Breathed for her. Sometimes he was still haunted by the nightmare of her memories. He would wake up trying to figure out where he ended, and she began.

He sighed again for the second time that night.

\- 0 -

_Kakashi pulled his knees to his chest, and he let out a breath. His right eye was firmly shut, and a single hot tear rolled down his cheek. His nose twitched . The smell of blood was normal and wouldn't have been so nauseating if it wasn't __**his **__blood. _

_"What are you thinking?"_

_Kakashi turned to his best friend, in the small compact space of cave somewhere in the mist of war, his body half crushed by stone. The phantom peered at him intently, bright crimson orb swirling with dark tomoes - seeing straight through him. _

_He shuddered. He knew that this was nothing more than a dream. A fragmented shard of his own personal torment. Obito sucked in a shuddering, wet breath. And then he coughed out the blood blocking out his airway._

_"Why couldn't you save me? I thought you were stronger than me!?i."_

_The man winced, every word pierced into him. He turned to face his friend, to defend himself past the lump in his throat. But his heart thumped painfully, when he saw Rin peering at him with huge watery grey orbs that were big and pleading, blood trickling past her lips. _

_"Why weren't you stronger! I thought you'd protect me"Rin sobbed. _

_Kakashi groaned, squeezed his eyes shut and he ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly. But when he looked up, to tell Rin how sorry he was. She had transformed into a little girl of long soft white ringlets, and dark skin. Her small malnourished body littered with scars._

_Sinister__ hand shape bruises around her thighs spoke of unspeakable things. _

_She wasn't accusing like Obito, or scared and sad like Rin. Her luminescent orbs saw him to his core, and scrutinized all of him before her. His pain, his regret, and his guilt. _

_Tetsuna smiled her teeth baring smile. He flinched away from it, as it mocked him._

_"You're such a coward."_

* * *

Kakashi's eyes bolted open and his chest heaved as he swallowed for breath. He felt a desperation claw at him as his nightmares tried to chase him into consciousness.

Someone was pressing something cool to his forehead. He reached out for them, his fingers squeezing a thin feminine wrist. Terrified chocolate eyes met his frantic ones, and his fingers went slack. The brunette woman, held her wrist, frowning.

She pushed her curls behind her ear, and a red flower stud caught the morning light. She bowed her head.

"I'll tell Sarutobi-sama you're up."

The woman quickly left. And Kakashi propped himself up, still trying to catch his breath. He scrubbed his calloused hands down his face. Grimacing when his palms came back wet from his sweat.

"You're up."

Hiruzen stepped into the room and closed the door softly behind him. He took a seat in a chair beside the bed. Kakashi looked pale, and worn.

Hiruzen smiled gently.

"You know my house attendant doesn't scare easily. But I think you nearly gave Yura-chan a heart attack."

"I'm sorry. Please tell her that for me."

Hiruzen waved dismissively. They sat in silence for a moment, and he watched Kakashi carefully. He didn't think that Kakashi had anything to do with the Akai chika - or anything that Tetsuna had been doing for that past few years. He was well aware of the young man's neglect where his god-daughter was concerned - but there was a story there and he wanted to hear it.

Tetsuna hadn't just wondered into this village on her own.

"I'll have Yura bring some breakfast for you, and some medicine."

Kakashi looked like he wanted to say something, or rather ask something. Hiruzen was more than aware of what. Last night was still a surreal, but very real experience fresh in his mind.

"Eat. And recover. Then I will tell you about what happened last night. After that I want you to tell me something in exchange...I want you to tell me about Tetsuna."

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, and glanced at the alarm cloak on the nightstand. He smiled warily.

"After that we have to get you up and going. You have students to teach afterall."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto. Just my own OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

Tetsuna leaned against the doorway of a small, nondescript weapons shop at the very edge of the Market district .

Regardless of the early morning hour, the shop was still sweltering with heat from the forge attached to the back. Bokuro - the owner, and smith, had the windows, and the doors thrown open in an attempt to cool down the small wooden shop - but it was still unpleasantly warm.

She stuck her hands beneath her armpits in an attempt to keep them cool against her cold body, and away from the heat that was almost painful against her frost bitten, stiff hands - even through the thick layer of bandages securely wrapped over them. An after effect of overdoing it last night.

More than likely sensing her presence, the echoing sound of metal striking metal ceased, and Bokuro appeared in the doorway in a cloud of steam from the cooling of whatever piece of metalwork he'd been working on. His swarthy skin glistened beneath a fine sheen of sweat. Using the towel thrown over his thick shoulders he wiped the sweat rolling down his forehead. Cold brown eyes peered at her from beneath the curtain of thick white bushy brows.

He didn't seem surprised to see her.

Bokuro was an older man. It showed in the prominent streaks of grey lining the sides of his temple, and the air in which he held himself. Older in years he might have been, but there was an obvious, quiet strength in his movements and a virility to his large body that spoke of constant training and upkeep.

All of Konohagakure knew him as a Blacksmith, with good steel, and fair prices. A generally simple spoken man, who kept to himself and never stirred any trouble.

It was as if he faded neatly into the background. He was just Bokuro the Blacksmith. Nothing more. Nothing less. No one would ever suspect him to be, Bokuro Yuki, the Yuki clans standing councilmen in Konohagakure. Or Bokuro the Cold Iron Fist.

"Who's here?"she asked immediately. There was no polite _'hello'_, or _'how are you'_ \- just straight to the point, straight to business.

"Tetsuna-sama. I thought you might come to me" he said, coming further into the shop. For the moment ignoring her question, and her lack of manners. His voice was a deep rumble. Words tumbling over the other. " At some point I feared this place would dull your senses. I see my fears were misguided."

Tetsuna remained passive. Shifting from one foot to another. Her senses **_were_ **faded. Almost dull. And her two energies that made up her chakra were unstable, and unbalanced. The price for forcefully using her seal mark - but she would never openly admitted any of this.

Not to a councilman of the clan she was actively trying to destroy.

Bokuro stood behind the counter. His bulky arms crossed over his chest. He must have known though, that something was hindering her ability to sense - she could see it somewhat in his expression. After all she practically never visited his shop. Not even for weapons.

But she knew that he would know who was here. It was customary for active clan members to address the standing councilman. A sort of customary greeting.

"Are you coming to me as the Demon king of the Red Underground?Or are you coming to me as the heir to my clan?"He asked first.

Her responding silence, and blinking blank expression was all the answer he needed to know.

"I see. Well Akuma no o, I owe you nothing...But I will give you some advice. You've lost your edge _little girl_."

Tetsuna stood up straighter, she kept the acid retort from dripping from her lips. Bokuro was off limits. He was leagues beyond Omoshi. He wasn't built the way he was for nothing. And he wasn't assigned to the Hidden Leaf village because he was weak.

But he had given her all that she needed to know.

He confirmed that there was someone from her clan roaming the village. She had an idea of who it might be, but she still needed to be sure.

There was only a handful of active clan members that roamed the shinobi lands. Most of them preferred to stay in villages near or around the district a councilmember was inside. And Omoshi wouldn't dare announce his presence in the village if he entered.

Besides there was only one person she knew who would purposefully, almost playfully filter in and out her sensing range. Who would make their presence known but not reveal themselves.

But the question now was. What was **_he_** doing here?

-o-

Omoshi dabbed at his forehead with a cloth,cleaning away the perspiration that gathered along his creasing brow. He was a big man with naturally waddling steps, and a pair of beady dark eyes that had a way of shifting around in an almost rat like manner. It was made worse by the constant feeling of paranoia that he had acquired in the past recent days.

Mizuki had failed. Then had the audacity to be captured. He wasn't afraid of Konohagakure - after the Great Sacrifice most of the world thought the Yuki clan was snuffed out of existence. No that's not what he was afraid of at all. What he was afraid of was the shadows of his can lurking around.

If any of them found out what he did. What he'd been trying to do ... and the report got back to Yuki-sama...

He wiped the cold sweat gathered on his upper lip, and maneuvered his bulking weight through the crowded market streets of Konohagakure. The little note in his hand, clenched between his fat fingers - ruined by his sweaty palm. His breath came in quick little pants as he finally made it to entrance of his inn, he ignored the polite greeting of the inn keeper, and struggled up the steps.

But when he made it to his door he paused. Shoving the damp tattered piece of paper in his pocket and licking his lips, Omoshi braced himself. He could taste the salt of his sweat, and it reminded him of the taste of fear. With slick thick fingers he fumbled with the knob until the door gave way.

"I thought you might have never arrived."

Standing in the light of the bare mullioned window of his room was a boy he thoroughly hated, and equally feared for his position and power. He was only fifteen, but he stood as tall as most men, with a slender figure, a cap of dark curls, and soft brown skin.

"Kohaku" Omoshi greeted, composing himself. " What do I owe this ..._pleasant_ visit?"

There could be multiple meanings to Kohaku's sudden appearance. Most of them ..._unpleasant_, for him.

Kohaku pivoted on his feet, the loose white tunic drooping on his collar bones, billowing. A discolored pair of almond shaped orbs, one brown, and one blue, peered at him, and Kohaku's mouth quirked in a disarming smile. He took a seat on the wooden window ledge, both hands braced on either side of himself, while he crossed his ankles.

"Oh. I was just in the village, business and all - and Bokuro told me you were in town. It's unusual for councilmen to be outside of their districts, so I thought I'd visit."

Kohaku for lack of a better term was almost like Yuki-sama's right _and_ left hand man, his little errand boy. He didn't trust him as far as he could throw him. In fact - he had never liked the boy period. He had always been strange and he believed the clan head instilled too much privilege and power into the boy's hands.

And for all he knew Kohaku's _**business**_ could be dealing out punishment and any punishment dealt out was more than likely death. He swallowed thickly.

But he was confident that he hadn't been found out, and that he could get passed Yuki-sama's loyal and obedient watchdog. He had escaped sensory and suspicion before - had he not he would have already been dead a long time ago.

"Why are you here in Konohagakure?" Kohaku asked casually. He tilted his head, his eyes focused on the patterns he was drawing with his fingers.

"I don't know why my business is relevant to you...**child**. We Councilmen are not bound to stay in our districts."

Kohaku's fingers paused, then flexed.

Omoshi brought himself to his full height feeling a sense of triumph for belittling the brat. But it didn't last long. He blinked rapidly, feeling bewildered, when Kohaku's lips parted in a wide bright smile, his discoloured eyes shimmering with some type of hidden mirth.

"Of course not Omoshi-sama. But perhaps - while you're here of course - you can help me with some business of mine?"

Kohaku's dark lashes narrowed, and his expression became an odd mixture of serious, and friendly that bordered on mocking. Sharp and attuned to his clan's men - Kohaku could tell when he had the pudgy little man in his grasp. Omoshi could not. His greatest sin had always been greed. His greed, and his delusions of grandeur and self importance is what blinded him to his impending peril.

"What kind of business?" Omoshi asked carefully.

Kohaku ran his tongue across the edge of his teeth. It was almost predatory in the way he did it. But then again he was excited - he was about to catch a rat in a trap for a long over do punishment.

"The shadow head of the Akai chika the Akuma no o -Devil king - is a person of important interest to Matsumune-sama. He had tasked me with finding him, and setting up a meeting of sorts." Kohaku sighed so dramatically he almost broke character and laughed. " I've tracked him to a local brothel, the Crimson Peony but..."

"No need to say anymore child " Omoshi cut in. He waddled quickly over, and placed a heavy hand on Kohaku's shoulder in a comforting gesture. His entire demeanour changed to benevolent and concerned clans men. " A brothel is no place for a child to be. I will find this Devil king for Matsumune-sama."

Kohaku frowned, his discoloured eyes peering at the offending, filthy appendage touching him. Instinctively feeling the annoyance in the air Omoshi removed his hand. Dropping it limply and awkwardly to his side.

Kohaku's smile returned, fluidly, easily.

"Thank you so much Omoshi-sama. You're doing me a huge favor."

Omoshi tethered, feeling heat crawled across his neck. He could not afford for Kohaku to discover the girl before he did, so he plastered a smile on his face, all the while thanking Kami for the immaturity of the child in front of him

-o-

Kakashi made it to the training grounds - later in the morning than he had originally planned. But he hadn't anticipated how much strain, and stress had been put on his body last night.

He stood back for a while once he approached the designated meeting spot and observed his students, Team seven.

They were all facing away from each other, each one ignoring the other's presence. Sasuke was ignoring them all, with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. Sakura stood close to Sasuke, while occasionally glaring at Naruto.

Naruto himself was sitting crossed leg on the grass, frustratedly plucking out blades between his fingers, and muttering beneath his breath. While Tetsuna was near him, propped up against a tree, her pale blue hood hid her face, as she cradled a long staff wrapped in bandages in the crook of her elbow.

His gaze lingered on her. His chest squeezed. He blinked rapidly, swallowing down his self-reproach for later when he was alone with a sake bottle. His body might have been fully recovered but for the moment the emotional detachment he had achieved was not.

The demons that plagued him danced in the back of his mind. Not only the ones that concerned Tetsuna, but the other ones like the blonde who jumped up immediately at the sight of him.

"You're late!" Naruto, and Sakura yelled in unison. Pointing accusatory fingers in his direction. He smiled beneath his mask, his single eye creasing. It was so odd how Naruto looked so much like his father but acted so much like his mother. But he was grateful for the distinction. It was hard enough having to look at the spitting image of his mentor.

The very man he looked up to as a father.

Pushing his personal feelings to the side. He locked them into a box for later. For now he had students to train. And the mission to watch and train all of these children - no matter how they they connected to his past - was still top priority.

"Hey guys. Good morning" he greeted, waving one hand nonchalantly. He ignored the angry indignation of his two most brightly colored students. Walking past them and choosing a familiar foot worn path.

"Follow me."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto. Just my own OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Kakashi stood before his four Genin student, with two silver bells hanging from a thin red thread held between his index and forefinger. They were in the very center of training area ten, and he was fairly familiar with the layout of the forest here. He got a feeling of nostalgia looking at them, despite Tetsuna being an odd fourth addition, they reminded him of Team Minato. Kakashi blinked, mentally shaking his head and letting the feeling fade.

"Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time is up."

He shook them for emphasis."Those who don't have a bell by noon, gets no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps over there. I will also eat right in front of you.""

With a jerk of his head Kakashi then motioned toward the tree stumps behind him, where he had placed the bento's for later, and the timer he had set for exactly noon. Realization dawned on Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke, while Tetsuna had took to looking blankly ahead. Kakashi didn't miss how Sakura and Naruto took turns glancing at Tetsuna, almost disbelievingly - or how Sasuke's jaw clenched while he glared intensely into the tree line.

Had she been a different person, more like Naruto or Sasuke - Tetsuna might have childishly said ' _I told you so_ ', or her features might have morphed into a smug expression of satisfaction. But being the person she was she saw the opportunity in the situation. Maybe now her teammates might have a little more faith in what she had to say.

She yawned tiredly, and shifted her weight. Ignoring the weight of her teammates eyes.

"You only have to get one bell. There are only two, so two of you definitely will be tied to a stump with no lunch...And the two that don't get a bell will be sent back to the Academy."

Kakashi observed his students as his words took an immediate effect. Just like the exercise was meant to do, they started to divide themselves from the team mentality and into a state of individual thinking. They were thinking about how they alone could get passed this part of their training. But judging by how poorly they did yesterday on his first test, he had little hope that they would see the point in this one...at least on their own.

He let his single dark eye fall on Tetsuna. She'd revealed herself to be sharp minded and cunning Demon king of the Red Underground last night. A ruthless and meticulous figurehead of Konohagakure's criminal underworld. There was no doubt that she'd be able to figure out the point of this exercise on her own. The question was would she actually take into account the point of the exercise or would she devise a plan for her individual success.

He couldn't help but be curious. From what he gleaned from the conversation the Hokage had told him about last night - Tetsuna was more than willing to sacrifice others to accomplish the goals of her own personal agenda. He 'd get his answer soon enough.

Shifting his focus back to all four of them he continued to explain the exercise to his students.

"If you want you can use shurikens, and kunais, You won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."

This was the part where students normally became squeamish. His announcement was met by a degree of varying reactions but the majority of his students reacted well. All except Sakura. Her creamy skin turned sheet white, and her emerald eyes went wide with surprise.

"You can't be serious! You'll be in danger!?"She yelled. It was almost as if she thought saying it louder would get her point across. But she couldn't help herself. The thought of hurting someone didn't all together sit well with her. Even if she understood that at some point as a Shinobi that she would eventually have to hurt someone ...to possibly kill.

Sakura swallowed thickly, and she clasped her fingers over the straps of her backpack tightly. But like cold hard steel, Tetsuna's calm monotone cut through Sakura's apprehensive train of thoughts.

"I'm sure Kakashi- sensei can handled himself Sakura-san. There's no need for concern. He's a Jonin after all. You can't get much higher than that rank as a Shinobi, and you have to be on an even higher level to become a squad instructor."

The cool, assured tone made goosebumps rise along Sakura's arms and the fine hairs rise on the back of her neck rise despite the logic. She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip, chewing nervously. Her skepticism and apprehension was still there. Sure this man in front of her was a Jonin, but there was still three of them to his one.

Before she could verbalize her concern again Tetsuna spoke again. "Are specialized weapons allowed?"she asked. Kakashi shrugged.

""If you have the skill. Use anything in your arsenal"he responded.

"_Skill... _you're so slow you couldn't even dodge a chalkboard eraser. We'll definitely kill you" Naruto barked out arrogantly, lacing his hands behind his head with a smug grin.

Kakashi's single visible eye curved as he smiled fully beneath his mask.

"In the real world those with no talent often bark the loudest. Ignore Mr. Dead Last and start when I ...". Naruto's face turned a bright red. Who did this spiky haired, one eyed loser think he was calling a dead last? He reached inside his weapons pouch, and twisted his fingers over the handle of a kunai. Anger and embarrassment fueled his actions as he charged at Kakashi. He made it the first step. But he didn't manage to plant the second one.

Everything in his vision flipped, and his back hit the ground with an audible _'thump'_.

Frosty, incandescent blue eyes bore into one single dark eye unblinkingly. This was the first time that Tetsuna, and Kakashi had directly met each other's eyes since the night before, and right now he was more than sure he was looking at the Akuma no o. But just as soon as the monster bubbling beneath her exterior appeared it melted back beneath the surface.

The ebony blade of Tetsuna's su yari glinted in the light, the fabric that had been wound around the 10 inch blade, flapped listlessly in the breeze. It's sharp and precise point was pointed directly at her instructors throat. While she had a firm, bare handed grip on Naruto's Kunai , intended for Kakashi, being pointed between her eyes by Kakashi himself. They were at a stalemate. Kakashi had even blocked her tanto blade, aimed menacingly at his male organ, with the steel plated backing of his fingerless gloves.

Naruto, who had been standing somewhat in front of Tetsuan was now on his back behind her, staring up into the sky above him. He blinked, disoriented. Then he pushed himself to his feet indignantly, but whatever he was about to say died in his throat.

There was a silent pause as everyone assessed the situation. So silent in fact that the animals skittering around the woods could be heard. Or the sound of when the first drop of blood hit the grass.

Naruto slowly let his eyes follow the thick drops of red disappearing into the grass up toward its source.

Tetsuna let go of the kunai, backing away from Kakashi and the blade. For a brief moment Naruto caught a glimpse of the bright red flower blossoming beneath the palm of the pristine white bandages wrapped around her hand, of the thin streams of red curving around the glass beads around her wrist, before the long loose sleeve of her jacket covered it.

She held her Tanto in one hand and her Su yari in the other. The loosened bandages around the off white ivory pole, and it's fine silver carvings, unraveled in the grass. Using skill acquired from practice, she sheathed her Tanto back beneath her jacket, and struck the capped butt of her Su yari in the ground all at once.

Sasuke took an involuntary step toward her. Concerned for a moment. But it was only a step. Tetsuna gave him a sharp glance from the corner of her eyes, the fire blue irises forced him back to reality. And he squeezed his fist hoping to use the sharp sting of his cuts as a secondary reminder.

Sakura didn't notice her teammates wounded hand like the other two males of her group. Instead she blinked back and forth between Tetsuna and Kakashi. She hadn't even seen either of them move. She was slowly becoming less and less confident on weather she could pass this training exercise.

Tetsuna ground her teeth. She admitted to herself that she had a natural protective instinct when it came to the blonde. And although she knew that Kakashi wouldn't hurt him she had still jumped in front of him without thought. This was exactly part of the reason she wanted to avoid being anywhere near Sasuke or Naruto. She had acted without thinking. And for her acting without think was dangerous. She could feel the blood seeping beneath her bandages. The sensation was too hot on her skin. It felt as if she was being burned.

Light lines of pain creased around her eyes.

"You're bleeding!" Naruto said softly almost like he didn't exactly comprehend what he was saying. He quickly got to his feet, and tried to reach for Tetsuna's hand, but she snatched away from him. She turned her eyes directly on him, her hood had fallen around her shoulders, and beneath the glow of the sunlight her messy bob of hair was illuminated in a halo of light, while her skin looked rosy and bronze.

She looked almost unreal. And very...very angry.

Naruto flinched involuntarily. Waiting for the worst. There were a lot of things Tetsuna could have done right then - but she settled on being scolding. She understood better than anyone what harshness could potentially do to a person. Naruto was ...innocent. A ball of literal positivity and light. When she looked at him she saw hope. She saw the marvel of human nature, a boy who managed to keep such a beautiful and positive smile despite the wrong and harm done to him.

Maybe that's why she was so protective of him. Tetsuna let out a sigh, and ran her fingers through her hair, then pulled her hood back over her face. With that one breath she expelled all her anger and irritation at her lose of control.

"I'm fine" she sighed. " Next time don't let simple words cloud your reasonable judgment."

Her voice never rose an octave. Naruto would have probably felt less worse if she had hit him, or yelled at him. The soft scolding had struck something deeper inside the blonde, making him feel appropriately shamed.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, swallowing back the words that pooled in his mouth. Choosing to stay quiet. He squeezed his fingers tighter, but the following pain didn't seem as significant. He turned his gaze toward Kakashi developing a sudden dislike for his Jonin instructor, and a new determination to complete this training exercise.

Somehow sensing the shift in his students, Kakashi smiled, and placed his hands on his hips. Behind his smile his mind was turning.

That specific stance that Tetsuna had used to combat his kawarimi was unique, and he only knew one other shinobi who used it. He began to look at his god daughter with a whole new light.

"So it seems you're finally prepared to come at me with the intent to kill ... so you've finally acknowledged me." Kakashi chuckled. " I'm starting kind of like you guys ...Okay let's get going. Ready ...Begin!."

-0-

_Kakashi threw logs into the roaring flames of the small pit in the middle of the cabin. They had made it down the mountain just in time, the snowfall was beginning to thicken outside the tiny glass pane. _

_He rubbed his hands together and held them out toward the flame for warmth. Beyond the flickering fire he watched Mei tend to the small girl they'd found, wiping her forehead occasionally with a cloth as the child gave into fever dreams. At the moment she took the cloth from the girl's forehead and dipped it inside a bowl of water beside her rabbit mask on a small nightstand. _

_Kakashi peered at the small dark skinned girl specifically. His thoughts dark, brooding._

_Someone had defiled her body, penetrating her small frame in the most disturbing way imaginable. And from how the fluids pooled inside her - it had been recent. Not more than maybe fifteen or twenty minutes before they started their attack. _

_Despite how disturbing it was to discover someone had raped a child, what made him anxious was the timing. The mountain was dead. Not even animals could be heard in it's dead forest. He doubted if there was anyone else beside them on the mountain now. _

_But the doubts in his mind were beginning to grow. Even though they'd caught the clan by surprise, not a single one of them put up a fight. He'd come across enough Yuki to know that they were not a weak clan, nor was their Kekkei Genkai anything to be taken lightly._

_But the body count, compared to the number of clan members that had been reported, matched up._

_"Do you think I should try it now?" _

_Kakashi took his eyes off the two females, and peered up at Tachibana from his crouched position. The blonde man's teal eyes were focusing on the similar place his had been before, his tiger mask positioned to the side of his face. Kakashi looked again at the girl. Things weren't adding up and he hoped the little girls memories gave some sort of useful insight. _

_"Are you sure you're able to?"__Kakashi was referring to the possible traumatic state of the child's mind, and the fever that was overtaking her tiny frame._

_"It's never stopped me before."_

_Kakashi nodded then. He was reassured that Tachibana would be fine. He was the best at what he did. Perhaps one of the best among his clansmen. _

_Together they walked toward the bed. Itachi joined them from his seat at the small round table near the door. Without uttering a single word Mei knew what was going to occur. She took the child's head, and positioned it comfortably in her lap. Careful not to jar the small but still open wound on her chest. _

_Tachibana performed the specific hand signs for the mind to mind jutsu, then touched the tips of his fingers to the child's temples. _

_In a matter of seconds Tachibana's entire frame went stiff. His pupils shrunk, and then exploded spilling past the teal and into the whites of his eyes. There was a moment where he took a sharp intake of breath, where he looked like he was focused and in the room... and then he began to tremble uncontrollably. _

_"Tachibana" Mei cried, alarmed. She moved to reach for him, but was stopped by Kakashi's firm hand on her wrist. Turning Mei opened her mouth to sharply rebuttal his interference, but he shook his head in a silent no. The clear concern on his face, and the fact that his eyes were solely focused on Tachibana made her stop. _

_"I think he's been pulled too far into her mind" Itachi murmured, studying the older man's face. _

_"Can you help him?"Kakashi asked. _

_The Uchiha nodded, his coal irises already blood red,tomoe's swirling in his eyes. He took over the position of holding the child's head, but instead of looking into Tachibana's eyes Itachi carefully peeled back the little girls eye lids and peered into her orbs, which were a shocking shade of silvery pale blue. _

_In this moment both Itachi and Tachibana had connected to Tetsuna, but both were seeing two completely different things. One was sitting in a theatre of memory. Scrolling through a short lifetime of pain, misery, and humiliation. Reliving moments, and feeling emotions as if he had slipped into skin that wasn't his own._

_The other was sitting in a small windowless cell, covered in thick layers of ice, feeding warmth into the room and trying to coax its sole occupant. A small child curled in a defensive ball in the furthest corner of the room . Her curly thick white hair was a sheath around her, as her wild blue eyes glared at him with warning and mistrust. _

_One would develope a unwavering compassion, the other a lingering fascination. They both would come to same conclusion...they would both come to love her._


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto. Just my own OC's.**

**This chapter might be crappy, and I apologize ahead of time. But it was my hurdle chapter and the one I couldn't avoid no matter how many alternatives I tried. **

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Bokuro's body flexed, and a fine shine of sweat coated his skin as he struck the fire hot metal in front of him. The heat squeezed around him, and he found comfort in it's familiar embrace, in the familiar ache in his limbs. He could have been living in a life of luxury, but he had always preferred a modest life and earnest way of living.

He had never been an idle man. He valued hard work, and rewards earned with the blood and sweat of labor. And his hard work had been rewarded when he was honored with the position of Councilmen, despite being born lower in the bloodline. Bokuro brought his arm back, ready to strike the metal in front of him with a wide arch but he paused. His ears twitched, as he felt the air shift. Instead of striking the red hot sword before him again, he took the hot piece of steel and dropped it into the bucket of water at his feet. Steam billowed and quickly filled the small room in response.

Setting his tools aside, he used the damp cloth he kept on his shoulder to wipe the sweat from his brow,and cool his face, just as the sharp song of the bell on his counter rang.

It took him all of four steps to stand in threshold that connected his forge to his shop, crossing his beefy arms across his chest his eyes fell onto the heavyset man standing in the very middle of his shop, peering at his humble surroundings with disapproval and condensation, in silk robes that were too small on his frame and showed how unhealthy his body was.

All Bokuro ever knew was iron, and steel. As a blacksmith, and as a Shinobi - but he doubted that the man in front of him ever lifted a finger in his life. His small dark eyes were greedy, and dull. He was the very type of man Bokuro despised. Not only was he weak, he was also dim witted.

He had played easily into Kohaku's hands.

However, despite Kohaku's guileful nature,Bokuro doubted that it had taken him much to manipulate and give Omoshi the idea of coming here. The man was walking into his own execution blindly after all - and he grossly underestimated his opponent. He might have criticized her earlier - but Tetsuna-sama proved to be a force to be reckoned with. The only reason that he'd even been able to be rewarded the position of Councilman was because the previous one had grossly underestimated how vicious and shrewd Tetsuna-sama was. Had Yuki-sama not interfered, Councilwoman Kikyo might have been dismembered in the jowls of a particularly merciless beast.

"Omoshi-san"

Omoshi startled, placing one hand over his sagging breast, while he wiped away the rapidly forming layer of perspiration beading across his face and dampening his silk collar.

Yuki-sama would not be as gracious as to save the man in front of him.

"Do you not have any manners? You nearly gave me a heart attack" Omoshi hissed. He rolled his eyes and mumbled beneath his breath '_low-borns_' like it was something distasteful rolling across his tongue. Bokuro's hard mouth thinned, and his thick brows formed sternly over his eyes.

"If _**you** _had any manners you would have come to greet the prime Council member, before you settled into the village"he replied coldly.

Omoshi's tiny eyes sunk into his thick face, while his pursed lips nearly lost themselves in his cheeks. Color filled his face until it almost turned purple. He was furious. First that brat Kohaku and now this low born. Who did they think they were? If not for Mizuki's failure he would have had the Scroll of Seals by now - but he would have it soon enough. He let the thought cool his temper.

Yes, soon enough he'd have the ultimate power of the Yuki-clan, along with Gato's financial backing and then... he would be _unstoppable_. He couldn't afford to lose his composure now. Omoshi forced a smile that shaped oddly on his still red face. He bowed almost impudently, and apologized insincerely. Bokuro took all this in with cold severity, not even a child would be convinced by this man's poor act.

"Why have you decided to grace my shop with your presence Omoshi-san?"Bokuro asked mildly.

He was finding his tolerance level for the short, fat man in front of him diminishing at a rapidly alarming rate. Omoshi's mouth pinched, but he wisely kept whatever smart comment he had from passing his lips.

"Konohagakure is your district so I assume you are well informed about the locals?"

"Your assumption is correct."

"Well...as it would seem Kohaku has pushed a task on me that was too much for him to handle. It is understandable really. He is after all only a child...completely unfit..." Omoshi cleared his throat , stopping himself from continuing his barely concealed derogation after Bokuro's thick brows pinched over his eyes in an impatient and unamused expression. He continued on awkwardly.

"Ah...Apparently Yuki-sama wishes to speak with a person know as the Devil king - Kohaku has managed to tie this person to the brothel - the Crimson Peony. I thought you might have more information since this is _your_ district. "

"The Akuma no o is a very private person Omoshi-san. The only information I can provide you is that the proprietor and the Madame of the Peony are very close acquaintances of that person. Speak with them directly and mention the Yuki name, and they might be willing to allow you a meeting with the Demon king."Bokuro replied.

Omoshi absorbed this information in, never once questioning it. He rubbed his thick fingers across his chin, squinting in thought. Clearly Bokuro had no sway with these people. He wouldn't have told him to speak with the proprietor, and Madame of the Peony otherwise if he had. He made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. Glaring at Bokuro from the side of his eyes. What use was the Yuki name if you didn't use it? From the looks of it Bokuro had simply just assimilated into the way of things in this village, instead of making himself an important presence.

It didn't matter.

He had to step carefully but quickly, Mizuki was still in the hands of Konohagakure authorities - there was no telling what the man would do to lighten his judgement, despite the amount of fear the Yuki name inspired. But that wasn't the part to be cautious about, it was who might be present when and if he did decide to crack under pressure. The Yuki clans expansion of spies were extensive, and largely unknown.

Once someone from his clan realized what he'd done, and what he'd intended to do ... there was no telling what kind of repercussions his intentions and actions would bring. Thick bumps of raised flesh rose along his arms, and his breath quickened suddenly as he imagined Yuki-sama's cold voice slithering in his ear, dictating his punishment.

He shivered, and physically shook his head. He wouldn't be cowed now, not when he was so close to tasting glory.

"Ah forgive me Bokuro-san. I was lost in thought. Do you have the address of the Peony at least?"

Bokuro peered at Omoshi quietly for a long drawn out moment. He'd seen the man's pupils shrink, swimming in irises filled with anticipated fear before they'd become clouded by greed. He told Omoshi what he wanted to know and watched him leave his shop, and for the first time Bokuro pitied the man, and the weakness of his soul.

"She's going to eat him alive." A familiar voice announced.

Bokuro looked toward the counter, and wasn't completely surprised to see Kohaku swinging his feet gleefully, mismatched eyes sharing the same bright and manic excitement. There was something unusual about him. There always had been. Bokuro was always hyper aware of his presence, of the subtle rolling waves of danger coiled around his form.

"I'm just glad it went so smoothly"Bokuro sighed, he hated hassles." But even so it's a shame that he won't be brought before the clan to receive proper punishment."

"That's were I think your wrong Bokuro-san." A playful smile stretched across Kohaku's face, and he winked.

"He has been dealt a far worse fate to be fed to that particular beast."Clutching his fingers in his lap, Kohaku met Bokuro's eyes. The brown and blue marbles were swimming with lucid bloodlust, and his wide smile softened into something tender, and his voice deepened with fondness."There will be nothing of him left. She is going to devour him completely ... _his soul won't even touch the plains of the afterlife**.**_"

Bokuro didn't even realized he'd been holding his breath until his lungs began to hurt. Swallowing he tore his gaze away from Kohaku's, his thick white brows pinched over his brooding brown eyes. He wondered, not for the first time just _who_ exactly was he? Instinct told him that it was a question he hoped never to have the answer too.

-0-

The scenery around Tetsuna was soothing, and relatively calm. The warm breeze drifted softly through the clearing, sending ripples across the high grass, and the small pond in front of her. She sat on top of the jutting outcrop of rocks circled around the water, with the tips of her bare toes submerged in the crystal clear water, and her su yari on the grass behind her.

For the moment she was alone. After Kakashi had initially started the exercise, her teammates had all gone their own separate ways. Hiding themselves from their Sensei, who in turn only waited for his students to go on the offensive. Naruto, had been the first to challenge the Jonin, and in turn had been the first to fail.

Naruto had had a decent plan but his own short sightedness and quick temper had seen to the quick failure of it.. She chuckled quietly to herself, her lips quirking slightly but not really smiling.

The blonde was still as idiotically earnest as he had been when they were children. Still foolishly running ahead without thought, and still optimistic to the point of plain stupidity. Not only had he fallen for an obvious trap afterwards, but he had fallen for the same obvious trap for a second time.

Kakashi had moved on after Sasuke had attempted to ambush him while he was distracted with scolding Naruto for his lack of insight, and Sasuke had followed after him. She assumed that Sakura had probably followed after Sasuke and - from the shrill shriek she had heard a while ago - didn't last long on her own.

Tetsuna had preferred to stay in the small clearing, near the timers and the starting point. Had there been any possibility of completing the true objective of the training exercise she might have attempted it - but with the willful personalities of two of her Teammates, and the shadowy and dependent presence of the third - gathering her Teammates to work together seemed a poor prospect.

The day was warm and she could feel tiredness pushing down on her eyelids. She sighed, the cool pond water lapping at her bare feet. She doubted Sasuke would fair any better against Kakashi than the other two had alone. But that was to be expected. She had never entertained the idea that single handedly any one of them could have gotten a bell from Kakashi. Not even herself.

He was a Jonin after all. Leaning back on her hands she was careful not to place too much weight on them, especially her right hand. The cut in her palm was still fresh from earlier and she didn't want to force it to bleed through the new bandages around her hand.

Letting out a weary breath, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back far enough to feel the afternoons warmth, but not far enough that her hood would fall off her head.

The goal of this part of their test had been painfully obvious from the beginning - it was a teamwork exercise, with the goal in mind that they could overcome selfish desires and differences and work together toward the intended goal. Which was to obtain one of the two bells between the four of them. The fact that there were only two bells meant nothing in reality. In fact Kakashi-Sensei had never said that they had to individually have a bell to pass. They just had to have a bell. But by using only two bells between the four of them, and giving them a time limit, it placed extreme pressure on them with the very real possibility of failure hanging over their heads.

It forced them to think with their baser instincts, which in human nature, was selfish.

The only reason she'd been able to figure this out was because she had seen and incited similar situations within the Akai Chika. As the heart of the criminal element in the Land of Fire, she more often than not stayed she stayed out of disputes and only kept a regulatory control so that they wouldn't get out of hand. The many factions, and organizations that made up the Red Underground community was always at odds with each other. One trying to gain more power than the other, like crabs in a barrel they fought to be on top, and like the frim wooden sides and lid on said barrel she kept them in check.

But sometimes she placed fresh bait in the barrel to thin out the herd, and to nip out the buds of bad seeds.

Tetsuna had no time or patience for those who began to question or disrespect her authority or the system that she ran things by. Neither did she have time for traitors who would harm the flourishing underground imbeciles who couldn't think of solutions beyond barreling head first with nothing but physical violence backing them.

She only had tolerance for one idiot like that - and she wasn't an overly generous person.

Besides the Akai Chika ran smoothly and undeterred because of the loyalty and grudging respect between one another - despite internal disputes, they were a tight and close knit group, and understood that the guidelines helped them flourish, and remain off of the authorities radar. They all had a sense of Teamwork, and was rarely caught unaware.

But at this point her Teammates were not unlike crabs in a barrel. Instead of helping one another they were pushing each other down. And unlike the Akia Chika or her Red Guard - she didn't have a iron fisted grip on them, so anything she said would be either blown off or not taken to heart.

As she had proof of yesterday, she thought drly.

So the best approach right now would be to do nothing, and observe how all this would turn out. Her ears perked at the soft sounds of bells tinkling - slowly she opened her eyes. Staring deeply into the cloudless sky in harmony with the spotting of forest, and the mountain standing proudly in the back - she didn't bother turning around.

She wondered how long she'd been resting here. It must have been quite a while.

"Kakashi-sensei"

Swirling her foot in the water, Tetsuna sent ripples across it's surface. This was the first time she'd been alone with him since last night. She waited for what he would do. She could tell he had something to say to her.

Kakashi stood behind Tetsuna, a cool, almost serene atmosphere around her. There was no tension in her body, no aura of determination radiating from her. She was completely at ease, which in turn made Kakashi more uneasy and wary.

"What are you doing?"

"Meditating" Tetsuna replied, non-committally. Silence fell between them again, the sounds of the forest filling the void stretching between them.

Kakashi contemplated on his next question, he had many. He realized he knew very little about Tetsuna. There was a gap between them of his own making. They had only spent a short time together. As a child she had been guarded, and mistrustful of the people around her, always watching each and every person she came in contact with carefully. It had been the only outward sign of her abuse at the hands of her Clansmen.

The only thing he had remembered clearly of her was that she had had bright eyes. They had been liquid pools of swimming, various emotions - bright and intelligent - they reminded him of _him_ at times. He felt the warmth of those memories spread, and it made his guilt so acute, so painful that his heart beating against his chest felt painfully unbearable. He breathed in deeply.

" You're not going to attempt the exercise?"he asked in attempt to focus his mind on what currently was important, which was training his student. There would be time later to ask her other questions. After all despite everything that happened she would still be moving into his house. The Hokage informed him that she would continue to go along with his wish for her to be under Kakashi's roof.

Tetsuna shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. It seemed to be her attitude toward everything. Cool and indifferent.

"Why waste the effort? It would be useless to attempt to take one of those bells on my own when the platform between Jonin and Genin are so far away. "

"And so you're going to give up without even trying?"

Finally turning to face him, Kakashi was struck by how cold and lightless her eyes seemed despite how they managed to swallow, and reflect the light to the point where they were almost glowing. The still pools observed him silently for only a moment beneath messy fringe, before her white lashes lowered with thought.

"No and Yes, I guess." Tetsuna turned back to face the scenery before her, and continued her explanation.

"My teammates aren't in the right mindset to complete this exercise. They aren't thinking of the possibility of teamwork, despite how painfully obvious that that is the goal of all of this. They honestly think they can compete with a Jonin, and won't be willing to listen to logic or reasoning. Letting them taste failure will bring their heads from the clouds."

Kakashi stood silently for a moment. Absorbing the fact that Tetsuna clearly understood the exercise, and even on some level understood the shortcomings of her teammates, but refused to do anything about either. She had not come up with a plan for success but instead had simply stood back and watched while her teammates were reared into the reality of their abilities.

The timer rang shrilly, echoing loudly through the training grounds and signalling the end of training.

* * *

Kakashi dark eye swept over each of his students almost non-interestedly, before he crossed his arms. They were all back at the starting point, and both bells were still attached to his hip, the silver balls catching the sunlight. Despite the fact that he was still in possession of both bells, he'd given everyone - except Naruto who was bound tightly to the center stump beneath the timer, for trying to steal the bento's before the exercise was over- a bento.

There was a cloud of trepidation radiating, from Sakura and Naruto - while Sasuke kept his dark eyes focused on the twin silver bells on his hip, and Tetsuna seemed to simply waiting for the outcome. The lesson of this experience had flew over each of his students heads but one. But they all had failed in their own respective ways - even Tetsuna.

This would be his final attempt for the members of Team seven to pass.

"You guys look hungry and I'm not that cruel" he said and then added almost as an afterthought. " By the way ...something about the training ...Well there's no need for any of you guys to go back to the academy..."

Tetsuna watched Kakashi carefully - there was something in the way he spoke that seemed...rehearsed. As if he was choosing his words and the way he said them carefully for a certain effect and reaction. There were universal looks of relief that flooded her Teammates. Her instincts told her to be wary as soon as Kakashi's single eye curved as he smiled. His smile was deceptive and disarming, as if he were preparing to weaken the defenses of his students for a heavy blow.

He'd done something very similar yesterday, and had convinced her teammates that eating before training would cause them to throw up.

"Then ….Then all four of us !?..." Naruto swung his feet up and down excitedly unable to finish his sentence- he probably would have waved his hands too if he could have managed it, and Sakura jumped up throwing her fist in the air. You could practically see the triumph of her inner thoughts fist pumping right along with her. Sasuke remained calm, but he made a sound of relief in the back of his throat.

Kakashi nodded, placing his hands in his pockets - his smile melted and his single dark eye was hard.

Tetsuna waited for the hammer to drop.

"Yup all four of you...should quit as Shinobi"

The excitement bubbling in her teammates was burst viciously as Kakashi's words punctured deep. Tetsuna watched as the effect dug deeper than even than the Jounin realized. There was a moment of complete hush.

"Quit as Ninja's?! What does that even mean ….Ok, I get it we couldn't get the bells but why should we quit."Naruto burst out. Unable to suppress himself anymore. His voice trembled with panic despite the volume of it.

"Because all of you are punks who don't deserve to be Ninja."Kakashi retorted.

Sasuke clenched his fist tightly, his body trembling. He could feel the haze of his anger clouding his thoughts. He rushed at Kakashi, he heard Sakura screeching after him but ignored her.

The silver haired man was prepared for him, and Sasuke found himself pinned to the ground. He felt the sting of humiliation as he felt the weight of Kakashi on top of him, one arm twisted behind his back, while the Jounins foot was planted against the back of his skull pressing his face against the cool dirt. Fruitlessly he struggled to be let go, his annoyance egged on by Sakura's shrill complaints,and the fact that he could practically feel Tetsuna cold gaze making his humiliation worst. He kept his eyes focused on the ground beneath him, grinding his teeth so hard they ached.

The gap between Jounin and his current level was becoming more evidently wider. Which only made the chasm between his abilities and his brothers wider.

"This is why you're punks. Are you guys underestimating Ninjas? Huh? Why do you think you guys were divided into teams and are doing this training?"

Both Sakura and Naruto both paused and looked confused. The pinkette blinked owlishly.

"Huh? What does that mean?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi single dark eye fell on Tetsuna - who during this whole time remained calm, almost disinterested in the situation. She stared at him head on. As if she had anticipated what he would do. Which he didn't doubt that she had.

"Why don't you enlighten your Teammates now. I'm sure they're willing to listen ...Tetsuna-chan"

Tetsuna's mouthed pinched for a moment but relaxed as she let out a resigned breath. Both Naruto and Sakura turned to their silent Teammate - eyes curious and demanding, faces completely confused.

Reluctantly the white haired girl explained.

" The whole point of this exercise, the point of being divided into Teams, is teamwork" She said blandly.

Sakura's bright eyes peered from her stoic Sensei to her indifferent teammate, before her eyes were drawn to the bells. There were only two of them, and four of them. It didn't make any sense. She glared at Tetsuna.

"You're lying!There are only two bells. Teamwork, what teamwork? Even if we had worked together two of us would still fail. We would only end up fighting each other!" Sakura snapped venomously. She was tired of Tetsuna's know it all attitude. But instead of Tetsuna fighting back, or becoming upset she simply shrugged indifferently. This only made Sakura furious, Tetsuna got beneath her skin in the most unpleasant way.

"The test is purposely designed to make you fight amongst yourselves" Kakashi said, diverting Sakura's attention. " The purpose is to see whether you can forget your own interests, and successfully work under these designed circumstances."

"Sakura, instead of Naruto who was right next to you, you were only thinking about Sasuke who was far away. Naruto, you were just running around by yourself. Tetsuna, you knew the answers and yet didn't bother to even try to inform your teammates. And Sasuke you just assumed that the others would get in your way and tried to do everything yourself."

Kakashi looked at each of his students in turn, letting them know with his expression that he was very serious. This would be the most important lesson that he taught them, and by the end of this, if they didn't understand - then no matter who they were - he would not let them pass.

"Duties are done by the team of course superior individual ability is important to a ninja. But what's even more important is _**Teamwork. **_Going off individually could potentially harm your mission, or worst your teammates. And in worse case get you or them killed."

Tetsuna watched as Kakashi rose, releasing Sasuke and walking over to the memorial stone with a list of names etched into the stone. He placed his hand on the top of it, his back facing away from them. From the way he held himself, she knew that it held some sort of sentimental meaning to him.

"Look at this stone. On it are the names of heroes recognized by the village ."

" . HEY." Naruto suddenly burst out. " I'll get my name carved on that stone too! A hero, that's what I'll become ..."

"Naruto!" Tetsuna said sharply. She didn't yell but her voice was heard, and the eyes of her teammates were drawn to her, but she kept her narrowed blue eyes solely on the blonde. He glared at her, and she peered at him narrowly. They stayed like that for almost a half a minute before Naruto finally looked away, muttering_ 'kuso'_ beneath his breath. He used the irritation on his face to hide the sudden fear that had seized his spine and made him rigid - he swallowed hard - he was glad, for a moment, that he was tied to the stump.

However the fear he felt was replaced with shame a moment later.

"That's a memorial stone. The names are of people that have died while on duty. Be respectful" Tetsuna said seriously. The seriousness of her words weighed heavily on the atmosphere.

Kakashi noticed that Tetsuna had taken to scolding Naruto like a younger sibling. She had done so earlier, even going as far as to protect the blonde. There was an unusual connection between the two, but there was no history of them being together before team assignments. He glanced at Tetsuna, and saved his observation for later. She would probably be the sole reason that they all passed. For some reason he believed that she harbored some sort of protective instinct toward the blonde.

"My best friend's name is carved on this stone..." He turned towards them fully. " You guys I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch I'll make it harder to get the bells. Those who wish to challenge can eat, but don't give any to Naruto."

Naruto peered at Kakashi, making a sound of confusion in his throat.

"It's punishment for trying to eat by yourself. If anyone gives him any food they fail immediately. I am the rules here. Got it.?"

Not waiting for agreement, Kakashi performed shunshin no jutsu, leaving them by themselves.

Tetsuna watched as Sasuke, and Sakura settled down in the grass with their bento's, pointedly ignoring the blonde tied between them. She pushed herself to her feet, dusting off her pants with one hand. She knew that Kakashi knew that she wouldn't just leave the blonde bond and hungry. Tetsuna figured that not only was he testing whether they'd grasped the idea of being a team, but also just how far she was willing to go for Naruto.

Today she had shown her hand when it came to Naruto. A crucial mistake on her part - but one she hoped had minor repercussions. Standing directly in front of Naruto, Tetsuna swiped her Su Yari upward. The blade of her spear sliced swiftly through the ropes, and Naruto looked nearly ready to piss himself as he fell to the ground with a harsh thump. She wouldn't let Kakashi's scrutiny stand in the way of her passing this exam.

"Kuso. You could have killed me!" he exclaimed, his face pale, and his blue eyes wide.

Tetsuna placed her Su yari on her shoulders, tilting her head, and peering down at the blonde disinterestedly.

"I doubt it. I'm very skilled with this blade" Tetsuna replied. He looked at her skeptically, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, her emerald eyes bugging out. " If Sensei comes back and..."

"Naruto-kun is apart of our team Sakura-san. It's better if we help him rather than condemn him " Tetsuna said patiently, cutting the pinkette off. Kakashi was close by, she knew without feeling his presence that he was watching them. More than likely he was testing them. But she knew better than to point that out. He wanted sincere reactions, and her pointing that out would only foster ingenuine responses.

Sakura bit her lip, unsure of herself. She looked at Naruto, and then at her, before she finally looked to the silent Uchiha as if asking him for guidance. Tetsuna turned to him too. Their eyes met for a silent moment, before he averted his gaze like a skittish animal.

"Tetsuna-san is right" he said forcefully, wincing as if the omission was being dragged from him. Tetsuna had no doubt that it was. Placing his chop sticks inside his bento, Sasuke shoved the plastic container of food in Naruto's direction. " Here. Without food you'll just be in the way and that will only hurt us when we're all trying to get the bells."

Stubborn with his feeling to the very end, Tetsuna thought with a wistful amusement. Sasuke looked as if he wanted to tip his hand sideways and dump the packed food on the grass between Naruto's legs. To her his malice for the blonde was palpable, but then again she had come to be able to read the Uchiha fairly well. The vein in his forehead was throbbing, and his lips formed a strained thin line.

Ever the obedient follower, Sakura looked between her three teammates, and then down at her bento. She swallowed hard. Silently she also shoved her bento in Naruto's direction.

The blonde looked completely overwhelmed, oblivious to how insincere either teammates on either side of him truly was. . A soft unconscious smile brightened his face, at being acknowledged by his long time rival, and a light blush colored his cheeks at the thought of indirectly kissing Sakura. But for the most part he felt as if he was being accepted. The foreign feeling was warm in his belly, and something wet and stinging was at the corner of his eyes. He rubbed them with his sleeve.

"Thanks" he said, his voice a bit watery, but his toothy smile bright nonetheless.

A loud burst went off behind them, and smoke filled the clearing. Sakura, and Naruto screamed, and Sasuke, and Tetsuna jumped backward into a fighting stance.

"WHAT IS THIS!"

"YOU GUYS!"

"...Pass"

-0-

Kohaku watched Tetsuna-sama from a distance, stroking the beautiful chocolate feathers of the hawk perched on his arm, it's thick talons digging into his ice sheathed forearm for purchase. He whispered to the animal affectionately, it really was a beautiful creature. Tetsuna- sama had taken exceptionally great care of it. He hardly could tell that the birds wing had been broken before.

But that's what Tetsuna-sama did - she picked up broken things and made them better, gave them purpose. And she took great care of all her things, so much to the point that he delighted in the thought of_ breaking_ them.

He giggled at the thought of snapping the bird's neck, and leaving it for her to find, with clear evidence of the culprit. The next time they met her eyes would be that shade of frost fire blue that he loved so much, and her body would be rigid with cold malice. Like the dragon engraved into her flesh, she would uncoil, bearing her fangs but she would not strike. Instead she would slowly coil around her prey until she squeezed the very life from her victim.

She had done so with Councilwoman Kikyo-san before, but the Councilwoman had had other uses and so she was allowed to avoid her fate. Councilwoman Kikyo remained as a hollowed out reminder to the Clan of what happened when you stepped in-between Tetsuna-sama, and Matsumune-sama's game.

The thought of releasing that majestic beast was excruciatingly exciting, but patience was a virtue - and he would have to wait until Omoshi-san stumbled into the predators den. They would have there time, but it wasn't now.

He pet the hawk on his arm one last time, muttering a command to the animal, while seeping out his chakra just enough so that Tetsuna-Sama would notice.

The bird screeched, and flapped its powerful wings and took off into the air, just as Tetsuna-Sama's eyes cut across the clearing and directly toward his. His lips parted in a feral smile, teeth glistening. He waved and pointed to the hawk circling above her. Ignoring it she followed behind her teammates - Kohaku hand dropped in his lap, but he smile remained firmly in place.


End file.
